The first female host
by Capn Wendy
Summary: DONT READ THIS ABSOLUTE GARBAGE! I'm rewriting it atm so the only reason I haven't deleted this one yet is because I need a template. Sorry lol. The rewrite is called Ocean and Ice tho so if you wanna read that then I'm not gonna stop you ykwis
1. (1) New Beginnings

Giving you her appearance because my writing skills are rusty ;3 also, when I write speech in **bold** that's when the twins are speaking at the same time or when I'm speaking as the author ( **hullo ^_^** ). And when I write in _italics_ that's when the person speaking is emphasising a word, when there is a note, letter, newspaper article, song lyric, etc. or when the narrator is thinking.

* * *

 **Appearance** : Quite short, pale complextion and large eyes. Long blonde hair going just past her bum that is curled at the ends. Side parting on the left with a strand framing her face on the right.

* * *

 _My step father hit me again and again. Threw a lamp, and got mad when it smashed. Then he stabbed me repeatedly with each individual shard. He blamed me. He blamed me for my mother's illness, my sisters death. He thinks its my fault._

 _"If you had done as you were told, then I wouldn't have lost my only heir to the company!"_

 _So that's why...He's mad because Mitskuni ran away. He doesn't care that mum and Michelle are dead, he's just mad because he's stuck with me as the heir._

 _He had such high hopes for Mitskuni, but now all his plans are going to be wasted on me._

 _I looked up again, my small frail body shivering with pain and fear, my small hands tightly grasping my stained dress as I lay in the middle of his study's floor in a pool of my own blood._

I woke up screaming, drenched in sweat as I glanced around the room in worry to realize it was only a dream. I sighed in relief and got up out of bed, then i moved over to my dressing table and brushed my long blonde hair into a ponytail, pulling out the strand and wiping the sleep from my abnormally bright blue eyes before walking over to my wardrobe with a yawn. Drowsily opening the door, i eyed up my new uniform while removing it from the hook on the back of the door.

"Haven't had that dream in awhile..."

* * *

 **Chapter 1: New Beginnings**

 _Marceline POV_

I was finally dressed in the uniform; A light blue blazor, white button down shirt and a black tie with a purple stripe down the middle. Then a black pleated miniskirt with white thigh-high socks and black Mary Jane's. My uniform is different from the original ouran girls uniform, because they have to wear this ugly-ass yellow dress with puffy shoulders and a wide skirt.

Yuck.

The reason my uniform is so similar to the boys uniform is because my step-Dad originally planned to enrol my older brother at the school instead, but when Mitskuni ran away and left 2 years ago, he refused to change the enrollment from male to female because not only would changing it cost money, but the female uniform is more expensive than the male one. Even though he's owner of one of the most successful businesses he doesn't want to spend money on me. I even have to have a part time job in case he decides not to feed me...again.

You wouldn't guess that I spent my childhood in a fancy house, probably because I didn't, he kept me in a small bedroom by the main entrance so that I wouldn't 's start any trouble for the guests'. I'm not saying I've never caused trouble, but the most 'trouble' I've ever caused a guest is sneezing during someone's speech at a dinner party.

Even though he's wealthier than the average worker, he refuses to spend money on me. I even have a part time job in case he decides not to feed me...again. (Afternoon sneezing in that speech, I was sent to my room for two weeks without food, since the apparently limit of time a person can't go without food is three weeks. No where I have a secret stash of fruit and dry foods underneath my bed).

Lucky for me, I really enjoy my job, though what 15 year old girl wouldn't enjoy being a model.

The only reason he let me be a model is so that he didn't have to spend money on me, and the reason I'm using the enrollment is so that I don't have to live with him anymore, I'll be living with my new boss, Yuzuha Hitachiin. She has two sons that go to the same school as me, and I'm meeting them after school so their chauffeur can drive me back to the house while my belongings are sent ahead, though I don't have a lot of stuff. Literally just my favourite shirt, a spare uniform, hairbrush, toothbrush, and a few photos. My favourite has to be one of me and my family. And that's my real family, not just me and my step dad; but me, my dad, mum, Mitskuni and Michelle. We were stood in the traditional family pose, the parents behind, kids in front, Michelle and I doing identical poses on either side of Mitskuni to balance it out. Michelle and I were wearing identical dresses, too; because that's what twins do, after all.

Then I had another photo of Haruhi, Michelle and I in our school uniforms at her house. Her dad, also my godfather (Ranka-san) had taken it for us. Haruhi was Michelle and I's best friend from when I went to a public middle school. We met on around the 8th day of the first year, and have been besties ever since; in fact, I heard she got a scholarship to Ouran too, so I'm obviously hoping to run into her. We've been keeping in touch by text, and I sleep over at her house almost every Friday after school. I talked to her last night about me going to another school, but I lied and said I couldn't remember the name so that I could surprise her. She didn't tell me much about school, and I didn't tell her much about my father's abuse (even though she already knew about it); we just chatted about random things, and simply enjoyed each others company, appreciating the break from our different realities, no matter how short that break was.

I have to admit, even if the Hitachiin family turn out to be rich snobs, I'm certain I'll still enjoy it more than living with my Step-Dad. You'd think he'd at least come out of his office for once to say bye to me before I leave for 3 years, because hell no am I coming back to visit unless its absolutely necessary.

But instead, he watches me from his window while I walk down the driveway and out the gates. I had already said my goodbyes to the maids and other staff last night.

I had expected ouran to be a large school, I mean, it was made especially for rich kids after all. But this place wasn't just huge; it was fucking MASSIVE! It had a pathway surrounded by pink roses that led to the main entrance and all the walls were painted a pastel pink colour with sakura trees in the gardens and surrounding the path; sprinkling the air with pink petals.

Tis pink.

Walking along the path, I planned out what I expected to happen when I walk in.

1\. People stare at me. I'm shorter than average, they've never seen me before and my uniform is different from normal: I get it. They're just curious. Most of them probably don't mean to be rude. Probably.

2\. Some people might make comments about my appearance. I'm well aware that I'm at least above average on the beauty scale, not to brag, so it's possible that I'll get comments from the perverts that every school has.

3\. Get lost because I'm a klutz with no sense of direction.

4\. Ask a random person for help.

5\. Get to the chairman's office and get my timetable for the day.

I arrived at the large double doors, taking a deep breath and pushing them open, I kept my eyes forward as I walked, not making eye contact with anyone, knowing it would break my confidence, not that all the whispering wasn't already cracking it.

 _Prediction number 1, correct._

Then I passed some lockers next to a blank wall with some guys sitting around it. Here comes prediction number 2. They wolf whistled and yelled things like 'nice legs, short stuff' and 'me likey'.

 _Prediction number 2, correct._

We get it, I'm short. Let's move on with life.

Then this blonde dude appears out of nowhere and starts lecturing them on how to be a gentlemen. A group of girls also appeared out of nowhere and start fangirling over him. Once he's done with his lecture, he pulls out a white rose and holds it out to me.

"Tamaki Suoh, pleasure to meet you princess" he said, giving me a wink. The group of girls squealed random stuff. 'Kyaaa!' And 'Tamaki-Sama!'

"Uh...Marcelline Haninozuka, and its nice to meet you too, I guess." I took the rose, and gave him my professional smile. He seemed shocked, and mumbled my last name again, almost as if he recognised it from somewhere. Then he cleared his throat before reganing his posture.

"These gentlemen weren't bothering you, were they?" He asked. More squeals of 'Kyaaa!' And 'so kind!'

"Nope, if you can count them as gentleman, that is." I chuckled. Predictions 1 and 2 were right, and I'm not looking forward to 3, so I think I just found my 'random person'. "Think you could do me a favour before class starts, Tamaki-san?"

"Of course! It is the duty of a host to make all women happy, after all" he said, while bowing down slightly and pulling out another rose. Where does he keep getting all these roses from? Don't the thorns poke through his blazor? I also wasn't really sure what he meant by all the 'host' buisness, so I ignored everything after 'Of course!' And went along with my favour.

 _Prediction 4, correct._

"Could you please take me to the chairman's office?" I asked politely before throwing in another professional smile.

"Yup! Follow me princess" he said, turning and leading me down a more empty hallway. "So you're a new student?"

"yeah."

"Ah, that means you've never been to the host club before."

"Uh...the 'what' club?"

Lightning struck the blonde as he let out an offended gasp with a shocked expression. Then he regained his posture again.

"If you don't know, then you should stop by! We're in music room 3, west building" he told me, passing me a small card with a floral 'host club' logo on the front. There were 7 boys on the front. In the middle was Tamaki, next to him on the left was a black haired dude with glasses, on the other side were two ginger-haired twins, then a short(er than me) blonde kid who looks like he snuck in from the ouran middle school. Next to him was another black haired dude who was super tall with a blank expression.

But the one who caught my eye was the brunette with brown eyes who stood in front of the group. HARUHI?! She texted me about having to pretend to be a boy, but she said nothing about being in a weird club.

On the back of the card were small head and shoulders pictures of each individual host and what 'type' they were. Tamaki was the 'princely type', which explained a lot; glasses dude was the 'cool type'; short blonde cinnamon roll was the 'lolita', which also explains a lot, though I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before; his tall friend was the 'strong-silent type'; the ginger twins, who were wearing grins that reminded me of Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Alice and wonderland, were the 'little devil types' which I guess explained their mischievous smiles; then there was Haruhi. The 'natural'. 'Kay, now that's just funny.

Maybe I will stop by after all.

"Um, if I can find my way, maybe I will! I'm kinda prone to getting lost" I admitted, scratching the back of my neck with my free hand while the other put the card in my blazer pocket.

"Judging by your uniform, I'll assume that you're the new exchange student right? The commoner?"

"Uuuh, yup thats me" I stated simply, my eyebrow twitching in irritation. Commoner, huh? I picked up from whispered rumours that I was apparently enrolled as a boy because I was a commoner and my parents couldn't afford the girls uniform. Which is kinda true, I guess; I mean I guess I'm not exactly rich but I think commoner is a little rude.

He then told me we had arrived, pointing at a large set of wooden double doors. "See ya around, Tamaki senpai!" I called as he walked back down the hall, "have a nice first day!" He called back. _Good luck with that..._ I mused, opening the door and walking into the organised room.

 _Prediction 5, correct._

There were two people in the room already, one was obviously the chairman, because he was sat behind the long wooden desk in a large red swivel chair. I kinda expected him to be facing the wall when I come in and then spin to face me while stroking a cat on his lap and say that he was expecting me. Then there was a brown haired boy with his back to me as he sat in front of the desk.

The chairman greeted me with a smile and motioned for me to sit down on the chair next to the brunette. "Welcome, Marcelline-chan. I would like you to meet your escort, Haruhi Fujioka. He will be in the same class as you, and only transferred here about two days ago, so he knows how you feel to some extent."

I gave a shocked gasp as the brunette turned around to reveal his face "Haruhi!" I exclaimed as she stood up to greet me. "Surprise!" My best friend replied with jazz hands as I hugged her. "I take it you two know each other? That would explain why Fujioka-kun volunteered to be your escort."

Haruhi smiled at him as she hugged me back. "Yup! We've been best friends since middle school"

The three of us conversed a little more about my schedule, and then I was given my timetable.

* * *

Haruhi and I caught up on what we missed during our time apart. She told me about her crazy two days at the school.

While searching for a quiet place to study, she had looked into what she thought was an abandoned music room, but instead discovered it was being used as the host club's clubroom. The club was apparently led by that Tamaki Suoh guy I met earlier. When Haruhi accidentally broke an expensive vase that was going for auction at the school for (get this) 8. MILLION. YEN! (Who the hell sells a VASE for 8 million yen?! You just fill it with water and put flowers in it, why would anyone buy it for so much money?! Seriously, unless yo mama's remains are in that damn vase, I'd say it drastically overpriced.) she was forced to become the host club's errand boy, or 'dog' as they called it. Due to her appearance, they mistook her as a boy and ended up giving her a male uniform, and then making her a host. She was a natural at it, but after some bitch threw her bag in the pond and claimed that she tried to 'assault'' her, she ended up getting a jug of water poured on her and had to change again. This time it was a female uniform, which was how the other hosts figured out she was infact, a female. Despite this, turns out shes pretty good at hosting girls, so she is forced to become a host and have 100 guests request her, instead of paying the money. But after the jug incident, her quota is now 1000 as 'punishment'.

All that went down in the space of two days?! Nuts, right?

When Haruhi and I arrived outside of class, she told me I wouldn't have to do or say anything as the students had already been told my name and why my uniform is different, though we both knew that they weren't told the whole truth.

Haruhi said I had to sit by the window next to her friend Kaoru, who has a twin brother Hikaru.

We walked in, anf I sat down by the window, then waited for the flattering whispers about my appearance to die down before giving my professional smile to the teacher as a signal that she could keep droning on about the mindnumbingly boring wonders of geography.

That's when Kaoru passed me a note from Haruhi which ended up turning into a full fledged conversation.

 **(Ha=Haruhi M=Marcelline K=Kaoru Hi=Hikaru Hi &K=Hikaru & Kaoru)**

 _Ha: u ok? U look super bored_

 _M: duh, course I am, its geography_

 _Ha: How can u b bored in geography?!_

 _M: lemme repeat, GEOGRAPHY_

 _K: yh, no offense Haruhi, but geography is pretty boring_

 _Hi: and pointless_

 _M: agreed_

 _Ha: and since whe involved in this conversation?_

 _K: since ur making me pass the note back and forth_

 _M: fair enough_

 _Hi: so I'm assuming ur haruhi's 'childhood friend' we've been hearing about?_

 _M: yup. And I'm assuming u 2 twins are the 'little devil types' of the host club that I've been hearing about?_

I flashed the host club card at them, the one Tamaki gave me earlier.

 _Ha: where'd u get that?_

 _M: c the tall blonde dude in the middle? I met him in the hall b4 class. He took me 2 chairman_

 _K: run. Save urself_

 _Hi: he's a perv_

 _Ha: true_

 _M: noted_

We carrried on passing around the stack of post-it-notes until the end of the lesson. Then we made our way to history.

While walking, we continued the conversation. I found out that Hikaru and Kaoru have different voices, which helped me out in telling them apart. I also noticed that Kaoru has slightly bigger, kinder eyes. That's when I was snapped back to reality by Haruhi clicking her fingers in my face.

"Hey? Marcie! Are you even listening to me?" She snapped, giving me her angry pout. Cute.

"Uh...yes?" I scratched the back of my neck nervously, a dead giveaway.

" **Then what was she saying**?" The twins interjected, doing their Tweed faces. I'm calling them Tweedledum and Tweedledee from now on. Or just Tweeds.

"She was asking if I was listening" I stated, proudly.

Haruhi sighed with her hands oh her hips before restarting the conversation. "The twins were saying that their mother just hired a new model, and that she'll be living with them. I told them that you're a model too, and that maybe you'd like to meet her?"

I blinked, and stared at her. Its kinda obvious that its me, right? I mean, what are the odds that another her model would be moving in with the twins and working for their mother on the exact same day as me.

"Uh, yeah, Haruhi? I think I might be that model, dontcha think?" Haruhi is and always has been adorable, but sometimes she's extremely dense.

She looked thoughtful for a moment before the realization dawned on her. The tweeds seemed ok with it, and stated that they were excited to hear some exciting middle school stories about Haruhi. They seem nice so far, so maybe it will be alright living with them for a bit.

We arrived at history, and I decided to actually try paying attention, but then I gave up and fell asleep.

Haruhi woke me up at the end of the lesson and then the four of us left for the cafeteria, the tweeds were debating about what to buy for lunch, but I was just happy I didn't have another nightmare.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I apologise if this is really cliche, but this is my first oc story and my first ohshc story, so please leave a review! And i'll put the second chapter up straight away. Credit to 'ImAtTheSoupStore18' and 'acrosseverystar' who gave me a ton of ideas for this! Go check out their accounts please! Their stories are way better than this one, guaranteed.**


	2. (2) The Job of a Highschool Host!

**part two! Hopefully less shitty**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The job of a highschool Host!**

 _Marcie POV_

The three hosts led me into a huge cafeteria that was filled with people. The tweeds strolled over to the food cue, and I was considering following them to try some fancy rich people food, but then I looked at the cost of everything on the menu and reluctantly decided against it. I don't have that type of money in my whole bank account, let alone sitting around in my pockets!

Damn these rich people.

I followed Haruhi instead, who took out her packed lunch as I pulled out a bag of crisps I bought this morning from a corner shop I passed on my way to school. Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't pop in this tiny schoolbag. She sat with a group of boys, who I soon noticed to be the host club from my card. I recognised Tamaki sitting on the end of the opposite bench and gave him a little wave as I opened the bag. He looked confused for a sec before realization dawned on his face and he leaned towards me over the table, his dangling tie narrowly missing his food. Meanwhile the lolita just stared at me, and I couldn't help but stare back. What is it about this toddler that I recognise so much? I almost feel like I know him from somewhere.

"You're that girl from earlier! I take it you've met my Haruhi already?" Tamaki chatted excitedly, a little out of character for the 'princely type', if you ask me. I smiled at his childish behavior and replied.

"Yup, that's me! And I've known Haruhi most of my life, we've been best friends since middle school." I informed, then I raised my eyebrow at Haruhi. "And if you dont mind me asking, Tamaki-senpai, what do you mean by _your_ Haruhi?" I questioned, sending a glance to Haruhi that said 'how-dare-you-get-a-boyfriend-and-not-tell-me?' She sighed and dug me in the ribs playfully.

"He doesn't mean it like that, you dork! He's just deluded himself into thinking I'm his daughter or something." She stated, which thoroughly confused me, but hey, at least she didn't get a boyfriend without telling me. I was snapped out of this thought process by Tamaki's offended gasp.

"D-deluded?!...MAMA! Haruhi's using those disrespectful-daughter-words again!" He said, clinging to the boy in glasses who sat next to him, writing in a black notebook. (In case your wondering, the seating is Tamaki, Kyoya, Honey and Mori on one bench, then its Haruhi opposite Kyoya and Marcie is to her right on the other side of the table.)

I looked to Haruhi and raised my eyebrow again. "'Mama'?" I whispered. She gave me a look that said 'dont-ask'.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki suddenly yelled, leaning over the table again and making us jump. "You've been hanging around those shady twins again!" He said, clutching her arm.

" **Hey! Who you callin' shady?** " I heard two sarcastic voices from behind me as the twins sat down on our bench, one next to me, the other next to Haruhi. I was introduced to everyone and everyone was introduced to me, then I was invited to the host club for free, since I was 'a friend of one of the hosts, therefore a friend to all of the hosts'. Yay?

Break ended all too soon and then I had two more tedious classes before lunch, when I went to the club with Haruhi and the tweeds to help the hosts prepare for club after school.

They all checked their cosplay while I helped set up the tables and sofas; then, since there was nothing else for me to do, I decided to continue my nap on one of the sofas.

* * *

 _3rd person POV_

"Marcie." Came a voice, drifting through the air. Marcie grumbled in her sleep. She didn't want to be bothered.

" _Marcie_?" Came the voice again, this time more insistent.

She turned and groaned a bit before rolling over and falling off the sofa. That woke her up.

"Ow." she whined, sitting up. She looked up to see Haruhi looking concerned while the twins sat on the opposite couch trying to hide their laughter before a cheshire-like smirk. She took Haruhi's outstretched hand and stood up, rubbing her back.

" **H** **ave a nice nap**?" They chorused between giggles. She ignored them with a glare and turned to Haruhi, noticing that the other hosts had left already. "Where are the others?"

"Lunch is over. Kyoya left as soon as the bell went but the others wanted to stay and watch you sleep"

"...what?" She asked, and she glanced over at the red-headed twins who held their arms up in a 'what?-its-no-big-deal' type way before responding "Wh **at? You're a cute sleeper."** She raised her eyebrow in a 'what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-people' way, though was secretly quite flattered. "I know, Haruhi tells me that whenever we have sleepovers." she stated, matter-of-factly as Haruhi nodded. Then the four friends ran to class before they got a late detention, passing through the doorframe just as the bell went.

 _Marcie POV_

I fell asleep in that class too...I need to sleep more...though saying that, I know I'm just gonna stay up till 4am on my phone like always.

Then came Haruhi's famous 'Marcie-get-up-or-I'll-pull-out-your-chair-from-under-you-and-let-you-hit-the-floor-then-I'll-laugh-at-your-pain' voice that she's used since middle school to wake me up after classes.

I reluctantly opened my eyes to find that, yet again, we were the only four remaining people in the room. " **Do you sleep _all_ the time**?" The tweeds questioned, packing their things and getting ready to leave.

"Yup" Haruhi answered. "She's almost nocturnal. We'd better get going, we'll never hear the end of it if we're late". I reluctantly got up and followed the trio back to music room 3.

When we got there, the others were already in their 'Balinese Royalty' cosplay. The twins rushed to get onto their own blue flannel shorts and bandannas while Haruhi and I stayed in our uniforms, and this random bird landed on her head. I attempted to stroke it, but it flew away.

"Marcelline, we have a proposition for you" Tamaki said, posing dramatically.

"I'm listening" I replied, raising an eyebrow.

"We would like you to be the host clubs new do-uh...errand girl!" He said this as if he was expecting me to swoon or something. Did this fucker almost call me a dog?

"What's in it for me?" I said, crossing my arms firmly.

"We will count it as assistance towards paying off Haruhi's debt." He replied, smugly. Shit.

Haruhi tugged my sleeve with a face that _defined_ 'puppy dog eyes' and screamed "pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaassssseeee?" Shit. She remembers my weakness to cute things.

I sighed. "Fine"

"What is all this anyway?" Haruhi said, completely changing her posture. "I could be wrong, but my calendar says its still early spring". Where'd she get a calendar from?

Tamaki put on his princely air again. "Sitting under a kotatsu table fearing the cold is nonsense! Besides, the heating system we have is the best!" He struck a pose at the end of his mini-speech.

Haruhi and I just gave each other that look of 'damn-rich-people' and said a simple, yet explanatory "ugh". I feel like we'll be doing this very often.

 **timeskip~**

I walked around the large music room which was now designed to look like some kind of rainforest.

Damn rich people.

I was walking from table to table refilling the guests' tea and bringing Honey senpai more cake every so often. When all that was done, I went and squeezed in with Haruhi who was sat alone on her sofa as all her guests sat opposite on the other sofa. They were quite friendly, though one or two seemed kinda envious.

"Are you new to the host club?" One girl asked with a cute hairstyle that made her look like she had small horns on either side of her head. She had brown hair and grey eyes with a wide smile. "Yup! I'm helping out around the club." I said, smiling back at her. Then another guest spoke up, almost hesitantly.

"Are you two dating?" Haruhi and I laughed at this, and denied it. I guess we couldn't blame them, after all, they didn't know Haruhi was a girl, or that we were child hood friends, so of course they would assume that.

"Nope! Just friends I'm afraid. Though I'm sure he would much rather go out with one of you lovely ladies." I said with a wink as I got up. Some 'kyaa!'d but a few seemed kinda releived, and I gave Haruhi a look that said 'you're-welcome'

Then I was called over by Tamaki to be introduced to his guests.

"Lovely to meet you all!" I said, curtseying slightly. While I was refilling their tea, I overheard them talking about a party.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot to mention to you ladies, next week the ouran host club will be sponsoring a party!" Said tamaki, standing in a dramatic pose.

"A party?" I mumbled before getting up and walking over to the tweeds table. Upon walking closer, I could hear that they were also talking about this party.

"What kind of party is it going to be?" Asked one guest, then the other asked "Is it going to be formal?".

"Yes, infact we've rented the schools largest hall" (Hikaru)

"Its the perfect place for dancing" (Kaoru)

"But I really wanted to spend some alone time with you, Kaoru~" (Hikaru)

"Don't be upset Hikaru, I know exactly how you feel~" (Kaoru)

They clutched each other tightly as more glitter rained dramatically from the air around them.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" I said, sarcastically as the tweeds let go of eachother. The guests calmed down from their fangirling and asked who I was, to which the twins answered.

" **She's the host clubs newest member.** " they said together before speaking individually.

"She's the errand girl-" (Hikaru)

"-and our Mum's newest model-" (Kaoru)

"- **s** **o she'll be living with us too** " They finished in unison again as the fangirls went nuts

"She's so lucky!"

"I wish I could live with the twins!"

The tweeds took this opportunity to start up their "brotherly love" act again.

"Oh Hikaru~ you're not going to forget me with her there, are you?" Said Kaoru, clutching his brothers arm dramatically as he put on a sad face.

Hikaru looked down at him in (fake) alarm. "I would never forget you Kaoru! You're all I need in this world" he said, holding Kaoru's chin up as their guests went bat shit crazy.

They're sparkling again. I said bye to the guests before going to check on Honey-senpai.

I arrived just as he was showing off his red flower garland to the girls at his table.

"Ta-da!" He said, arms out as the guests fussed over him. "Hi ladies! I love these Balinese flowers. We had them flown in!" He told them as More senpai walked over and stood next to me beside Honey. Why is he holding a pineapple?

"Takashi! Marcie-chan!" He said, then he climbed up Takashi and put another red flower garland (pulled out from the amazing world of no where) around his friend's head. "There! We match." he said, before passing me a pale blue one and putting another round my neck. "The other one is for Haru-chan." he explained. I doubted she'd wear it; but this lil toddler seems to have grown on me for some reason, so I made my way back to Haruhi's table after giving Honey the cake he ordered.

I arrived and dropped the garland over her head from where I was standing behind her. She glanced over at me with a questioning look on her face. "Sorry, Honey asked me to, and you know I can't say 'no' to cute things" I said, leaning on her shoulder and ignoring the comments of 'theyre so cute!' And 'I totally ship them' from the guests.

"Aren't you two going to wear tropical outfits like the other hosts?" One guest with bobbed light brown hair asked. "I'd like to see that!" Said the girl with hair horns. (I think her name was Azumi)

"W-well..." We both started, then I let Haruhi explain. Why? Because I'm lazy. (Hi lazy, I'm dad*)

"We prefer to wear early spring attire in early spring" she finished.

"Wow, the two of you are really faithful to the different seasons, aren't you?" Said the brown bobbed girl. (Let's call her Susan, 'brown bobbed girl' feels mean)

"I think that's great, I hope we're lucky enough that the cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the night of the party" Azumi gushed

"You think so? Ya know ladies, I think its so cute when you dream like that" Haruhi said, sparkling. She's getting pretty good at this hosting thing, she can even make glitter appear out of no where! The guests fangirled as she nudged me, wiggling her eyebrows. I nudged her back and it turned into a mini tickle fight. The guests made comments of 'how cute' we were and how we'd make 'such a cute couple'.

"Excuse me" came a voice from beside me. I turned to see a girl with green eyes and chin length brown hair. "I don't mean to disturb, but I believe it's time for the hosts to switch clients." The other 3 guests seemed dissapointing, but got up anyway, and I helped them pick up their things as Haruhi continued talking to the girl.

"Oh, you must be my next appointment. Miss...uh?"

"My name is Koniko. Koniko Kasushleflebdfh" (I know that's not what she said but there's no way in hall I can spell that. Her name with now be substituted with things like *whatever the fuck her name was* or *whats-her-face*. Hope you don't mind) "you're even cuter than I expected," she paused, lifting Haruhi's chin. "I've decided. From now on, you're going to be my new favourite host, Haruhi"

Well damn.

Tamaki popped up again to let out another offended gasp.

 **Timeskip~**

After club ended, Tamaki was sat at one of the tables eating a pot of Ramen. "I can't take this anymore..." He mumbled between mouthfuls. The tweeds called over to him from where we were all stood.

 **"Hey boss!** "

"Why don't you stop eating that commoners ramen and come help us with the party planing?" (Hikaru)

"Does it really bother you that princess *whatever the fuck her name was* has taken a liking to Haruhi?" (Kaoru)

Then I heard kyoya speak for only the third time today. "He shouldn't be surprised. She's had the illness for a while now, hasn't she?"

"Illness?" Haruhi and I spoke in unison.

"She's got the host-hopping disease" Hikaru stated, arms in the 'duh' pose.

"A.K.A, the never-the-same-boy-twice disease" Kaoru finished.

"Usually our guests choose one one host, and see them regularly, however miss *what's-her face* seems to change her favourites on a regular basis." Kyoya said.

"That's right! Cuz before she chose Haruhi-chan, she was with Tama-chan!" Mori-senpai informed, enthusiastically.

Sike! It was Honey.

"Ooh. So he's upset because I took her from him?" Haruhi said, understanding.

"SHUT UP! I COULDN'T CARE LESS!" Tamaki appeared, shrieking in her face as Honey and I covered our ears. "I'm running out of patience; Haruhi! Its time you started acting like a girl!" He paused for breath.

"I just don't understand how you could be so popular with the ladies when you yourself are a lady!"

"Well, Marcie helps a bit-"

"No one in the entire school knows the truth except for those of us here!" He interrupted her again.

"Yeah, she opted out of taking gym classes." (Hikaru)

"And the attendance numbers are all mixed together so nobody can tell" (Kaoru)

Tamaki dashed off as I was hit with a sudden realisation. "WOAH WOAH WOAH! SO THE SCHOOL LET HARUHI OPT OUT JUST BECAUSE, BUT IM NOT ALOUD TO OPT OUT EVEN THOUGH IM A GIRL?!" I yelled, shocked and infuriated.

"What? They're making you take the boys gym class?" Haruhi asked, equally shocked.

"Yeah! I even have to wear the girls gym uniform!" I cried, absolutely dreading whenever my first gym class was. This is totally unreasonable.

"THEYRE MAKING YOU PLAY SPORTS WITH A BUNCH OF GUYS WHILE YOU WEAR NOTHING BUT THAT STUPID PERVERTED GYM UNIFORM?!" Haruhi fumed.

"I KNOW!" I replied.

" **Don't worry Haruhi!"** The tweeds butted in, both with their thumbs up.

"We'll be there, so we'll ward off any guys who try to talk to her during gym." (Hikaru)

"You better" Haruhi replied, eyebrows narrowed.

"Yeah, it'll get pretty boring if we have to watch all the guys flirt with her" (Kaoru)

"It's annoying enough to watch the girls with Haruhi in class." Hikaru agreed.

"I guess that makes me feel a little better" I said, crossing my arms. Haruhi seemed to have calmed down too, but then Tamaki reappeared with this random treasure chest from god knows where.

He opened it and started rummaging around. "That's enough Haruhi, now you listen to Daddy," he said, pulling out a bigger version of that picture of Haruhi and I in our middle school uniforms that I was talking about before.. "DADDY WANTS YOU TO GO BACK TO THE WAY YOU WEEEEEERE!"

"DONT GO BLOWING UP MY PHOTOS WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST!" She yelled back at him.

"Awe, you still have that picture?" I gushed.

"Course I do, its a good picture. Why, do you not have it?" Haruhi asked.

"Of course I do, its a good picture" I repeated.

We turned around to see all the hosts gathered around the picture which was now hung up on a wall.

"The more i look at this picture, the more amazed I am." (Hikaru)

"How could _this_ possibly become _that_?" (Kaoru)

"The day before school started, one the kids from our neighborhood got some gum in my hair." Haruhi explained.

"Yup, those darn kids...heh-heh...heh..." I said in a way that was not suspicious in any way at all. Haruhi gave me a sideways glance to which I looked away and scratched the back of my neck with a guilty smile. I mean, not guilty. Non-guilty? What's the opposite of guilty?

"Its a real pain to get gum out of long hair, so I decided to cut it all off." Haruhi continued. "I didn't care if I looked like a dude, ya know?"

Haruhi and Tamaki kept yelling while Hikaru asked me if Haruhi and I had any dancing experience. I didn't, and I know for a fact that Haruhi doesn't either. Then Tamaki made some deceleration that if she's so desperate to stay in the host club, and if I'm so desperate to help her, then we both have to learn the waltz within one week! It took me _two years_ to master the funky chicken! How am I supposed to learn the waltz in less than a week?

After all that was said and done, it was time to go.

I said my goodbyes to the hosts and followed the tweeds down about fifty-fucking-million stairs. You'd think that such an elite academy would have an elevator or two. Maybe an escalator. They're fun. I mean, seriously though. They can afford a fountain with a statue of a kid peeing in the pond but they can't afford an elevator?

Damn rich people.

We finally got out to see a black stretch limo with two tough looking security guys standing either side of the open back door. Hikaru slid in first, then me, then Kaoru.

The door was closed behind us and the limo started moving almost instantly.

"Woah..." I mused, looking around at all the fancy cupholders and food that was just laying about.

"What are you 'woah'ing at?" Hikaru said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, its like you've never been in a limo before" Kaoru said, in a 'ha-ha-imagine-that' voice.

Damn rich people.

"That's because I've never been in a limo before, dumbass" I said, irritated. Then they draped their arms round me and Hikaru said in alarm "What!? Commoners don't even have their own limos?! First coffee and now THIS?" meanwhile Kaoru is just chanting "you poor poor thing" over and over, then Hikaru joined in.

"Unhand me tweeds!" I said in a mock angry voice which quickly turned to laughter as they started tickling me instead.

* * *

 **Hope this chapter was a little better, the next one will be about what Marcie gets up to at the twins house :0**

* * *

*Sorry, I had to


	3. (3) TJoaHSH! (Part 2)

**Another chapter :D yay**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The job of a highschool host (part 2)**

 _Marcie POV_

Their house is massive. Massive. My bed was like...the size of the double doors leading into the host club. It had these transparent curtain things, but I took them down because they were a pain in the ass. I kept forgetting they were there and walking into them.

The twins were helping me unpack. And by 'twins' I mean one of their maids, and by 'helping' I mean standing by the door and telling me where to put stuff. When I was done, she took my order for dinner. I had pretty much no clue what any of the stuff on the menu was, so I just asked for whatever the tweeds were having.

After all that was done, I decided to go explore the house for a bit. This was, of course, a terrible idea; as I've mentioned, I'm very prone to getting lost. So after about 20 minutes, I had gone up 2 flights of stairs, found 7 bathrooms and fell over twice. I had also almost broken a fancy cup but I caught it. Or rather, the floor caught it.

I was now in this weird room that resembled a recording studio. Its like this whole house is a Mary Poppins bag, and instead of pulling out lampshades and tape measures, there are just random-ass rooms. I swear there was a cinema somewhere, I need to remember that. The recording studio had the typical layout, the main part having all the tech equipment, the other part having a stool and one of those professional microphones that hang from the ceiling. These different parts of the room were separated by a wall with one door and a large one-sided mirror.

I think I know where the next few minutes of my time will be spent.

 _Kaoru POV_

Hikaru and I were in our room designing possible dresses for Marcie to wear for the host club's party. Then our identical maids walked in telling us it was time for dinner. We got up, and went to leave as the maids spoke again.

"Have either of you seen Miss Marcelline? We were going to call her for dinner but she's not in her room"

We sighed before giving each other a quick sideways glance. "She's a commoner, so she probably went to explore and got lost" Hikaru said.

"Should we look for her then?" I asked, god knows where she could be.

"Maybe she smelled food and went down to the kitchen already?" Hikaru replied, though I could tell he was just hungry. We agreed that he would check around the kitchen on the first floor, we'd send the maids on around on the second and third floors and I'd check the fourth.

I could tell she was nearby when I saw a broken cup on the floor by the cinema; and before long, I heard music echoing down the hall.

 _Marcie POV_

I closed my eyes slowly, and let my surroundings disapear. I know I'm not sitting right. I shouldn't be sitting at all, I should be standing exactly one step away from the microphones shadow with my back straight.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and picked a random song via 'shuffle'. I heard the steady intro tune of Alessia Cara's 'scars to your beautiful'. I love this song; I feel like it explained the old me pretty well, from back when I hadn't too long been a model and became self-conscious of my appearance.

I released my previous deep breath and replaced it with another before straightening my posture slightly.

 _She just wants to be,_

 _Beautiful; she goes,_

 _Unnoticed; she knows, no limits._

 _She craves,_

I swung my legs in time to the tune and adjusted the too-big set of headphones, holding them in place at the side with my right hand and clutching the microphone with my left.

 _Attention she praises,_

 _An image she prays to be;_

 _Sculpted by the sculptor._

 _No she don't see,_

 _The light that's shining;_

 _Deeper than the eyes can find,_

 _Maybe we made her blind._

Instead of standing with my back straight like I should be, I'm slouched on a tall wooden stool; one that's not unlike the ones you'd find in a bar. That and the plain brown colour scheme gave the studio a calm feeling, cosy, even. God knows why the Hitachiin family, who were famous for their fashion designs, even _had_ a recording studio in the first place. Like I said, Mary Poppins bag.

 _So she covers up her pain,_

 _And cut her woes away;_

 _Cuz cover girls don't cry,_

 _After their face is made._

I felt butterflies go off in my stomach as I approached the chorus, my eyebrows furrowing in concentration in an attempt to keep my focus and remember the words. I haven't sung this song in a while, after all. I don't sing much anymore. Maybe I should try to restart that hobby now that I have a place to do it.

 _But there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark;_

 _You should know you're beautiful just the way you are;_

 _And you don't have to change a thing,_

 _The world can change its heart;_

 _No scars to your beautiful,_

 _We're stars, and we're beautiful._

I let my voice rest as the instrumental played, avoiding the 'oh's in the middle due to the sudden feeling of someone else's presence in the room. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and took off the the headphones; letting go of the mic and looking around me. Then came a voice from the door way which I unfortunately recognised as one of the tweeds.

"A model _and_ a singer? Since when are you a double threat?"

Despite knowing someone was there, the sudden noise from behind me still made me jump; and I clumsily fell backwards off my stool so that my back was lying flat on the floor, one leg resting on top of the stool, the other underneath it. I don't think feet are supposed to be able to point that way.

Upon propping myself up on my elbows and bending my head back, I could see that the tweed who had interrupted me was Kaoru. And he was currently clutching his stomach and laughing his ass off.

"O-oh my _god_ " He wheezed between laughter, walking over to help me into a sitting position the floor so that my knees were up by my chest.

"Oh, ha ha" I said sarcastically, though I was smiling a bit. My ankle hurt a lot, and he must have noticed me clutching it.

"You alright?" He asked, his laughter dying down to be replaced by a concerned look and a raised eyebrow. I nodded my head.

"Ankle stings a bit, but I'll be okay; I think" I replied, casting a weary glance towards my foot.

"Mind if I take a look?" He asked, kneeling down just a foot away from me (get it? FOOT). I debated it in my head for a second before nodding again and sticking my slightly swollen ankle towards him. He held my foot gently, expertly rotating it in his loose yet secure grip.

After a couple more seconds, he gently set my foot back on the ground with a smirk. "Whelp. I don't think its broken. Should be fine."

"Yipee." I said, sarcastically and returned his small grin.

"We should probably put some ice and bandages on it though, to take care of the swelling." He continued, standing up and offering a hand to pull me up which I gratefully accepted; cuz hell no could I get up by myself.

I managed to leave the studio by leaning on the walls, but it took forever and I could tell Kaoru was getting impatient; though he was at least trying to hide it.

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked, realizing that I had no idea where he was taking me.

"Kitchen. Ice, remember? Also I had to come get you anyway, time for dinner." He replied.

"Cool. Rich people food. What are we having?" I said, continuing to lean on the wall as we walked down the hallway.

"Sushi" He replied, smirking at my reaction.

"Fancy sushi?" I asked, hopefully.

"Fancy sushi."

"Cool."

We were approaching some stairs, and I was silently hoping that we'd turn a corner or something. I took this opportunity to ask the question that had been on my mind for a few minutes now.

"How long were you standing there?" I asked. I haven't sung in a while, so my voice must have been a bit raspy in places where I was running out of breath. I should've done vocal warm ups beforehand, but never mind, I guess.

"Not _that_ long." He replied, avoiding eye contact. Dammit.

I grimaced. "Sorry about that, I'm a little rusty." I said, trying to sound nonchalant though I was internally cringing.

"Don't be sorry, it was...amusing" he said, after a slight pause. Well isn't that a confidence booster.

We didn't turn a corner by the stairs like I had hoped we would. Dammit.

"We need to go down a ton of stairs now, you gonna be okay?" He asked.

"How many is a ton?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"Well, put it this way. We're on the fourth floor, the kitchen is on the first." He replied, with a cheeky grin as I internally groaned. "Need me to carry you?"

"Uh, nah. I can handle it." I lied.

"Sure?"

"Yup, piece if cake."

Ten minutes later we had only gone down one out of three sets of stairs and were a quarter of the way down the second. I had already had about six close calls to falling and was getting quite impatient. Kaoru was quite the opposite actually; walking at a steady pace beside me and grabbing my fore-arm to keep me upright every time I almost fell.

"My offer still stands ya know." He said with a smirk. Despite being helpful and keeping me upright, he had laughed a lot. A lot.

My ankle was really hurting now, and the swelling was a little worse too. So, I sighed and reluctantly gave in.

"You sure you'll be able to manage?"

"Yup, piece of cake." He mocked.

His smirk widened and I stopped on the stair I was on to let him walk in front of me. He crouched down slightly to let me get on his back as he hooked his hands under my knees to keep me from falling off. Then we carried on down the remaining flight and a half of stairs.

"How long have you been singing?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at me. I decided I liked the soft smile he had. It was calming, soothing almost.

"Since when I was around five. It was just a hobby at first, but then Michelle learned how to play guitar and we started doing these mini performances for the talent shows at our school." I felt my heart sink at the mention of her name, but I still liked sharing the memory. It makes me feel like she's still around.

"Who's Michelle?" He asked, an eyebrow raising as he glanced over at me again..

"My sister. We were twins." I replied, and his eyes softened.

"'Were'?" He asked again, almost hesitantly; as if he already had some idea what the answer would be. I took a small breath and closed my eyes before sighing.

"She's...not around anymore." I replied, not wanting to say the proper words. 'She's dead.'

I could tell that he caught on to what I was saying, as his facial expression gave off a look of sympathy; pity maybe. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." His eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

"Nah, I like talking about her. Keeps the memory fresh, if that makes any sense." I admitted with a half hearted chuckle.

"Well, I'm here if you ever wanna talk about it." He said, hesitantly again. I thought about it for a second before opening my eyes for a moment to look at his face. There was that soft smile again.

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all."

I felt my own features soften into a small smile. "Well, she looked like me, obviously; we were identical twins, like you two. But she liked to curl her hair a bit." I said. I liked doing things like this. Being able to talk about her and have someone be listening, be interested. It felt nice, and i really did feel like she was still out there, somewhere.

"Mm-hmm." He said, a slight smirk reappearing.

"Aaaand...I guess you remind me of her, a bit."

"How so?"

"She had a habit of popping up out of no where and scaring the crap out of me." I said, remembering why I fell off the stool in the first place. It was true, there were many times when I had thought I was alone, but it turns out Michelle was waiting nearby, ready to say something random that would make me jump and ultimately fall over or knock into something.

"Sorry about that," He said, sheepishly, "any examples?"

"There was this one time, we were about seven, and it was our Mum's birthday, so we wanted to make her a cake as a surprise. Michelle sent me over to the cupboard to get a bowl while she got the ingredients; but of course, she was following me and decided to pop up just as I was getting the bowl out."

"Bet that didn't end well."

"It didn't, I dropped the bowl and it smashed on the floor."

"Were you hurt?"

"Yup. I have a scar on my left hand now. She felt really bad and we ended up having to tell mum what we were up to."

"Was she mad?"

"A bit, but she was more focused on my cut so we didn't get in any real trouble."

"Sounds like you had a pretty fun day, then?" He said, sarcastically with a smile.

"Mm-hmm." I said, resting my head on his shoulder again and letting my eyes close with a content sigh.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"Anytime."

* * *

 _"Marcie?!" A voice called, and I allowed my eyes to refocus on my surroundings. There was Michelle, waving her hands in my face. "Hello?! Earth to Marcie!" She said. The way she spoke told me that she'd been trying to get my attention for a while. When she saw my excessive blinking, she put on a mischievous smirk and raised an eyebrow._

 _"You done spacing out? You've been staring at your dress for like, what? 10 minutes now?" I looked back to where she had gestured to see that my dress for the day was still hanging up on our wardrobe._

 _"Dammit!" I blurted out before jumping up from my chair in front of the dressing table. I took the dress off the hanger and dashed into the adjoining bathroom that my sister and I shared; as well as our room, and our bed, and our wardrobe, and...well, everything!_

 _Its like an unsaid rule between twins, everything is shared. And what can't be shared is either discarded or compared to something similar. Clothes, for example._

 _My dress was blue, and hers was a pale orange of the same style. The dresses barely passed our knees and were frilly at the bottom hem._

 _After coming out of the bathroom, I returned to my seat at the dressing table and started eating the toast that was left there while my sister picked up a brush and started taming the knots and tangles in my hair, then she picked up two orange ribbons and started parting my hair in two. She left out the strand on my right, like we always did. It's one of the only ways people can tell us apart; by our hair._

 _She had hers curled, I had mine with a strand out; that's how its always been. It's so that everyone can tell who's who in pictures._

 _After she was done with my hair, we swapped places and I did hers in the same way: bunches. Except she had blue ribbons instead of orange._

 _Once that was done, we moved to the kitchen. It was Mummy's birthday, and we wanted to make her a cake to cheer her up! She's been very sad lately, cuz daddy went away to fight in the navy and our new step dad, Peter is very grumpy. We haven't seen Mitskuni in a while either; he was supposed to help us make the cake, but he's not back from visiting our uncle and cousin who run the dojo._

 _The two of us arrived in the kitchen and immediately started getting the things we needed. The maids and cooks helped us get the stuff on the high shelves that we couldn't reach, and they told us what setting to put the oven on, too._

 _"Next we need a bowl." Samantha said. She's our favourite maid. Michelle turned to me, and I could practically see the mischief glinting in her eyes._

 _"Can you go get the bowl, Marcie? And I'll get the rest of the ingredients." She said. I nodded and made a small hum in reply before skipping over to the cupboard. I pulled out the biggest bowl, cuz we wanted the cake to be MASSIVE so that there'd be enough for everyone. I hoisted it up and used my left hand to balance the bowl on the counter so I could get a better grip with my right. Just as I was about to secure my hold on it, I felt a sudden hand on my shoulder and a yell of "BOO!" As I dropped the bowl in shock. It smashed on the handle of the cupboard and shards of glass went EVERYWHERE. This big one landed on my hand and it started to bleed, I couldn't feel it though. Michelle rushed over to me and started yelling out apologies as the maids bustled in to see what all the commotion was about. Meanwhile, I just stared at the blood, in a daze._

 _Then mummy walked in. "What's all this racket?" She asked, yawning. She was still in her nightclothes, and one or two maids took a break from bandaging my hand to tell mummy that she's still sick, and she should be resting. I didn't know Mummy was sick! Maybe that's why she's been so sad?_

 _Then Mummy started coughing a lot, and the maids told us to go play somewhere else while they cleaned up the mess._

* * *

"Marcie?" A voice called. I allowed my eyes to open and focus on my surroundings. There was a tweed waving his hand in my face. "Hello? Earth to Marcie!" I smirked slightly at the resemblance to my dream, and made a hum in response to show that I was awake. Then I noticed that I could feel the warmth of someone else's body heat and slowly remembered what had happened before I fell asleep.

After freaking out and getting off of Kaoru, I noticed that my ankle was bandaged and the swelling had gone down a lot. "How long was I out?" I asked the tweeds who were standing side by side with smug grins. What did they do?

" **couple minutes** " they replied, rolling back and forth on their heels,

"Did I miss dinner?" I asked, hesitanlty. I'm hungryyyyy.

" **nope** " they replied again. I immediately punched the air in celebration and started tugging their sleeves.

"C'mon, c'mon! Let's go eeeeaaaattt! I wanna try the rich people sushi!" I whined like a child, which is ironic considering my dream.

I practically dragged them to the dining room (after getting directions from them) where I was greeted with many large plates of different kinds of sushi. Haruhi's gonna be so jealous when I tell her I tried some fancy tuna! Though what I _really_ wanted was some strawberry cheesecake~

Honey-senapi didn't have any, and I've always wanted to try some fancy cheesecake! I tried some once when I was little, but I only got one mouthful because michelle popped up and Made me jump again...I dropped the plate.

Lucky it was a paper plate that time.

* * *

 **Again, giving credit to WeightlessWriter for this chapter. I've also had some reviews saying that I should make Marcelline her own character instead of just having her along for the ride, which is really good advice, in my opinion. That's basically what I've tried get across here, with a little bit of info about Marcie and just a bit of bonding time with her and the tweeds. The next chapter will probably be back on track with the original plot though. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. (4) TJoaHSH! (Part 3)

**Yup, more of this. And I know its a little late for this, but I don't own OHSHC, though that is kinda obvious. And in case you don't know, I have an instagram account where you get notified about when there are new chapters up for all my stories, plus I post random anime memes, so yeah. Follow that if your interested**

 **The username on instagram is literally my username on this with "." Instead of spaces and and "x" instead of "e" in Wendy and another "x" for the first "o" in imouto.**

 **There's another one without x's which is my old account that I forgot the password to, so don't follow that one. That is all.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Job of a High School Host! (Part 3)**

 _Someones POV, idfk_

It was during club hours in the third music room of the west building in the elite (snobby) school, ouran academy. Despite the club being occupied, it was not (for once) open for buisness.

Instead, six hosts and an errand girl were all sitting in random places around the main room while the seventh host got dancing instructions from a guest.

The guest being, of course *that girl with the tea-cup fetish* (yes I still can't spell her name, leave me alone. Her new name is "tea-cup fetish").

Haruhi was doing quite well, though expression suggested that she was struggling a lot. *tea-cup fetish* spokre calmly, and gave Haruhi ared few tips as they waltzed. "Quick Quick Slow, Quick Quick Slow, put your legs together at the 'pause', the gentleman always leads, and make sure you actually look at the lady you're dancing with." She instructed.

"Uh, right." Haruhi responded before treading on her partners foot and falling over. Marcie snorted at their position; Haruhi had landed on top of *tea-cup fetish* and was blushing furiously, whereas *tea-cup fetish* didn't seem to mind.

"I'm really sorry *tea-cup fetish*!" The brown-haired host babbled as she attempted to get up, but was then pulled back down by *tea-cup fetish* who draped her arms around the brunette above her.

"No, its alright." She said. The two got up as Honey and Mori twirled around.

Meanwhile, Tamaki sat sulking on a window seat as the twins sat at a table nearby.

"Tono's acting blue..." Said...one of 'em.

"I bet he wanted to be the one to teach Haruhi, I guess it can't be helped though; he's too tall to stand in for a girl" Said the other one.

 **"ya know Tono, Marcie-Chan still needs to learn~** " They cooed, sending cheshire-smirks to the two blondes. Marcie looked up from her phone to send them a half-hearted glare.

"No."

Tamaki then retreated to his emo-corner.

"But you have to learn,-"

"The party is tommorow!" The twins replied, each with an eyebrow raised.

"Actually, I already know how... I'm just a little rusty is all. And I'll only be handing out snacks and chatting with the guests who are in the que's to dance with you lot. I probably won't even need to dance." She stated.

" _I'll_ dance with you, Marcie-Chan!" The lolita piped up, giving the part-time model new motivation. The was quite fond of the little shota, though it was probably due to her lack of self control when it comes to cute things. All the blonde third year had to do was bat his eyes and say 'pretty please', then its 'see ya around, common-sense; I'm off to go eat cake with Honey-Senpai!'. Anyone could see that the small lolita felt quite similar towards the model, as he was surprisingly clingy and protective. This, of course, was always a pleasure for the guests to witness, and the two were often reffered to as the 'host club siblings' a weird and, to be honest, kinda bad nickname that seems to have stuck.

Marcie's featured melted to a dorky smile as she turned to her lolita friend. "That's good enough for me! Who's my teacher?" She asked excitedly, though she inwardly cursed her weakness.

Tamaki was about to pounce into host mode when the twins barged past him, forcefully pushing him back to his emo corner. " **we will!** " they chorused, matching smirks on their faces that practically screamed 'mischief'.

"Over my dead body!" She replied, and before the twins could retort or protest, the host clubs errand girl was called to a table by Kyoya who instructed her to bring 'miss *tea-cup fetish*' a tray of their finest china cups.

She walked over after retrieving said tray, and took it over to the guest just in time to catch their conversation.

"I heard you aren't seeing any guests today so you can practice, so I'm glad I got to spend this time with you,"

Marcie gave the girl a pleasant smile. "Sorry to interrupt, miss *tea-cup fetish*, but what cup would you like your tea in?"

The guest returned the smile before silently looking over each cup, debating which one to pick. She eyed a green one in particular, it had a gold ring going round it a few inches from the top. "This is a new teaser, isn't it? Ginori, I think." She said, to no one in particular. Marcie knew she ought to have been impressed, but the tray of cups was surprisingly heavy, so all she could think was ' _calm your tits lady, its just tea! Pick a damn cup already before my arms fall off!_ '.

She ended up picking the 'ginori' and complementing it's colour. Then Haruhi spoke from the chair next to her. "You must like table-wear a lot?" She implied, causing *tea-cup fetish* to jump up in alarm, flailing her arms in denial.

"W-what? N-no! Of course not! What makes you say _that_ Haruhi?" She babbled, flustered. Clearly, Haruhi had hit the nail on the head; so why would *tea-cup fetish* lie?

Then, a boy in the ouran uniform (but no blazor) walked through the doors carrying a large box. God knows how he opened the door. "Hello, im here with the teacups you ordered." He said as Kyoya walked over and beckoned for Haruhi to follow.

Haruhi was made to take the box while Kyoya and the boy talked. *tea cup fetish* was listening intently, but due to Marcie standing on the other side of the table to her, so she couldnt hear the conversation that well until *tea-cup fetish* piped up, making Marcie jump.

 _Marcie POV_

"*some fake ass laugh* Haruhi, you're so funny! *more fake ass laugh* after all,he doesn't look like the heir to *the name of some tea company*" The guy looked at her in shock, only just realising that she was there.

"Heir?" Haruhi and I , causing Kyoya to give more information that he somehow knows.

"His family business, Suzushima trading, is a company whose buisness centers around the importing of tableware. It currently has the top market share in the company." He paused.

"Oh yeah?" Haruhi asked as I walked over.

"So whenever something sensational comes in, we ask him to send it our way. That's why we trust your eyes for these kinds of things, Suzushima-Kun." Kyoya concluded. Hasn't he noticed how upset suzushima is? He's staring at *tea-cup fetish* as if she's choking on her tea and Kyoya just straight up gives no fucks.

"No, my eye still has a long way to go." Suzushima replied, modestly (is that a word?).

"You're studying in England next month, right?" Kyoya asked, and I saw *tea-cup fetish* slouch slightly in her chair.

"Yes. Well I'd best be off." Suzushima replied before saying a polite goodbye to the hosts and leaving.

Haruhi, Kyoya and I walked back over to *tea-cup fetish*'s table. "You and that guy seem kinda close?" Haruhi implied, causing the guest to jump up in alarm again, flailing her arms in denial.

"W-what? N-no! Of course not, we hardly know each other. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now..." She said, blushing furiously as she exited the room.

Kyoya, Tamaki (who had suddenly appeared), Haruhi and I stared after her in confusion. Then Honey jumped up from no where and latched onto Haruhi's back, making her drop the box which I swiftly caught. And by 'I swiftly caught' I mean I tried to catch it but it slipped through my hands and the floor caught it then I picked it up and checked to were if the cups were ok'. They were fine...because extra shards, chips and scratches are in right now in tea-cup fashion.

"Guess what? They do know each other! Suzushima-kun is *tea-cup fetish*-chan's fiancée!" Honey informed.

"How long have you known about this, Kyoya?" Tamaki asked.

"About their engagement? I do, of course conduct general searches on all of our customers." Kyoya replied, typing something on his laptop. "The two were childhood friends, the arrangement was made by their parents. I didnt think that was important, do I didn't say anything." He concluded.

"Why, you..." Tamaki hissed.

"Suzushima Toru: good grades, fair social status, ordinary looks and reliability as a strong-point." Kyoya continued, ignoring Tamaki as the tweeds appeared behind him.

"He doesn't have much presence-" Hikaru began

"And he's fainthearted." Kaoru added, mirroring his brothers action of one hand hand in the air as if asking a question in class.

"In other words, he's boring. That's it." Kyoya finished, snapping his computer shut.

Haruhi nudged me. "They're kinda merciless towards other guys..." She whispered and I nodded in agreement.

"Toru-kun is a good boy, right?" Honey piped up from his spot on Mori's did he get there?

"Yeah." Mori replied, with a plain expression.

Then Tamaki took a dramatic step forward. "OK men, let's go over our strategy." He said, posing.

"Which one?" Chorused the hosts as Haruhi and I watched in amusement at how thwybwere all now crowded round a white board. Tamaki simply ignored them and recited the host clubs moral about making the girls happy and yadda yadda yadda.

(Typing yadda yadda yadda is fun. Yadda yadda yadda. Try it. Its fun. Especially without spaces.)

 **Party time (/-.-)/**

"To all the little lambs who have gathered here tonight, the host club bids you...welcome." Said Tamaki in full blown host mode as spotlights lit up the room at the appropriate time and orchestra began to play.

He was wearing a white tuxedo with a pale pink longsleved button down, a waistcoat in a slightly darker shade of pink and a light and dark striped purple tie.

The guests gasped and clapped, with huge smiles.

"We invite you to enjoy yourselves to your heart's content, and as always, the host club is here fly your entertainment, so dance as much as you please. The princess who is deemed to be the best dancer with be given a kiss on the cheek by the club's own king." kyoya informed, wearing a black tuxedo with a white long sleeved button down, a navy blue waist coat and a dark-ish purple tie.

"Good luck to you, my princesses" Tamaki added with a dramatic pose and a wink, causing a wave of kya's, and one girl even fainted!

Seriously though, I was standing next to Haruhi on the lower level of the balcony, but I could still practically _smell_ the roses that should have been blooming around the king as he drove the fangirls insane.

(Haruhi was wearing a maroon blazor and beige trousers with a longsleeved white button down, a navy blue waistcoat and a purple tie.)

Then I heard two voices from behind me, but one seemed more further away, so I assumed one was behind Haruhi and the other one was behind me.

"You two need to show more enthusiasm." The tweeds demanded, hands on hips. They both wore long sleeved cream button downs with peach, orange and brown flannel waistcoats and a green bow tie.

"I've never been to anything like this before. I need to get out more..." I said, though the last part was more to myself.

"The only parties I've been to are the festivals held at my village." Haruhi stated.

"Doubt you can count that as a party...well, the two of you are here now; you as well enjoy the food, we've prepared quite the spread." Kyoya replied.

"A spread?" We repeated, scanning the large hall for any signs or smells of something edible.

"With fancy tuna?"

"And fancy cheesecake?!"

The other hosts were then shrouded in a dark aura and individually struck by lightning.

"Tuna-" (Tamaki)

"-and-" (Honey)

"-cheese cake?!" (Tweeds)

Then Haruhi and I were glomped in something resembling a group hug with the tweeds as they quietly chanted "poor dear, poor poor dear" while Tamaki yelled at people to get in some of their best selections of cake and sushi

Haruhi and I gave each other a sideways glance to see that we were both blushing furiously. Then we exchanged small smirks and uttrered "Damn rich people."

While walking around, I made approximately four attempts to get to this 'spread', but was always dragged away due to some excuse.

Attempt #1

After wriggling our way out of the group hug, Haruhi and I made a dash for the buffet table, only to stop dead in the middle of the dance floor as our favourite song from middle school came on.

 _I met you in the dark_

 _You lit me up_

 _You made me feel as though_

 _I was enough_

 _We danced the night away_

 _We drank too much_

 _I held your hair back when_

 _You were throwing up_

She looked at me with puppy dog eyes as if asking me to go dance; and as if on cue, *tea-cup fetish* came over and tapped us on the shoulder.

"Um, if you two aren't dancing together right now, do you mind if I have this dance with Haruhu?" She asked, hesitantly. I sighed with a smirk nudged Haruhi toward her guest.

"Sure! I was gonna go to the buffet anyways" I replied politely, though I got another pleading look from Haruhi as she opened her mouth to reply.

"Okay, okay; I won't eat any without you, we'll experience the fancy food together, blah blah blah; now shoo! Don't keep your guest waiting." I interrupted with a smirk that she returned, and *tea-cup fetish* giggled slightly at our behaviour.

I waved as they walked off and began humming along to the song.

 _Then you smiled over your shoulder_

 _For a minute was stone cold sober_

 _I pulled you closer to my chest_

 _And you asked me to stay over_

 _I said, "I already told ya,_

 _I think that you should get some rest."_

There was another tap on my shoulder, and I thought it was Haruhi attempting to ask me to pass her food so that she could stuff her face while she danced.

"Don't even try, Haruhi. If you wanna stuff your face then you should at least wait until there's not a guest there for you to horrify with your adorable hamster cheeks." I said, smirking at the memory from middle school when we once spent that entire school-disco at the buffet table, and didn't dance with anyone.

 _I felt a tap on my shoulder and whipped around to see a boy standing there._

 _"Wanna dance with me, Marcie-chan?" He asked, holding out the hand he tapped me with to take._

 _"Sorry; but I'm really hungry right now. Maybe a bit later though, okay?" I replied politely, though he still glared at me as I turned back to the table. Then, he tapped Haruhi on the shoulder and asked her the exact same question! I looked over at her to see her reaction just in time to see her glance at me._

 _She winked and picked up a handful of food, then shoved it all in her mouth causing her cheeks to puff up in resemblance to a hamster._

 _I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back my laughter as we turned round to face the boy. The look. On his face. He was absolutely horrified! He walked away uttering 'nevermind' as the two of us burst out laughing. Then we had to stop because Haruhi started choking._

I made sure to take a selfie with her before hand, though. It was in fact one of the pictures I had brought with me, and there was a message written on the frame in sharpie. 'The time Haruhi cosplayed as a hamster for a school disco'.

As it turns out though, the person wasn't Haruhi, and I turned round to see none other than a tweed who was currently laughing; which caused me to laugh as well. Imagine going up to someone, tapping them on the shoulder and then they say that?

"Whad'ya want, tweed." I asked, after calming down.

"Oh yeah! I wanted to ask you to dance." He said with a grin. I got nothing better to do, and this tweeds sounds like Kaoru, so he probably won't try anything like Hikaru would. He's more innocent and kind one on one, I've witnessed this first hand after living with the pair for a week.

"Okay, but I like this song so don't ruin it for me." I replied, mirroring his grin.

We got in waltz position as I absently continued to sing quietly.

 _I knew I loved you then_

 _But you'd never know_

 _Cuz I played it cool when I was scared of letting go_

 _I knew I needed you_

 _But I never showed_

 _But I wanna stay with you_

 _Until we're grey and old_

 _Just say you won't let go_

 _Just say you won't let go_

I noticed him staring at me thoughtfully. "What?" I asked. He blinked and shook his head as if zoning back in from a daydream.

"Uh, sorry." He replied, flashing me a sheepish grin.

I dismissed it and took the opportunity to ask why the twin wasn't with his...well, twin.

"Where's Hikaru?"

"Dancing with guests." He replied, plainly.

"But shouldn't you be dancing with guests?"

"I wanted a break."

"This is a break?"

"Well I was gonna get food till I noticed your lonesome self."

"Oh, ha ha. I was getting food with Haruhi but a guest stole he-him."

His eyes widened slightly in alarm. "Which guest?"

"Uuh, *tea-cup fetish*, why?" I replied, confused and unnerved at his mischievous grin.

"Action time." He replied, leaning towards Tamaki who was dancing with a guest nearby. "Hey, Tono. *tea-cup fetish* is here." He said, causing Tamaki to get a glint in his eye and nod over to Mori-senpai (wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a white long sleeved button down and white waistcoat with vertical stripes -can't see what colour tie he's wearing cuz Honey's feet area in the way T^T) who then dissapeared in a blur that was headed for Haruhi.

"What...?" I asked, trailing off.

"Just follow me." Kaoru replied, dragging me off to god knows where by my elbow. We arrived at the changing rooms where Kyoya, Hikaru and Honey were already waiting.

"You look cute, Marcie-chan!" Honey complemented. I smiled and opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by the tweeds who were now standing side by side.

"Courtesy of us." Kaoru began, hand raised.

"Red suits her, dont'cha think?" Hikaru concluded, mirroring his brother.

It was true, into brag but I looked awesome. A blood-red dress that began at my knees at the front and got got longer at the back, going down to my midcalves a blending to black at the bottom. My hair was down but there were bobby pinns to keep it all resting on left shoulder, with the strand dangling over my right. On my feet were some blood-red heels and my legs were bare. And for make up I had a blood-red lipstick and some subtle mascara, because my eyelashes were already pretty long.

Like I said, awesome. Not bad, tweeds; not bad.

But I'm not about to boost their ego's by telling them that, so instead I replied to Honey-senpai.

"You look cute too, Honey-senpai!" And that was also true.

He wore a white tuxedo with a white longsleeved button down and a red waistcoat with a red bowtie.

My weakness for cute things is at it's most fragile state.

Then Mori-senpai walked in carrying Haruhi over his shoulder, which made me laugh.

Once he put her down, the tweeds hands her a bag and pushed her into a changing room. I heard her sigh from inside as Kyoya spoke.

"Having an 'accident' happen at the end of the night would be more thrilling. Remember Haruhi, we have 20 minutes until the party climax. We've already called Suzushima to the adjoining clasroom." He concluded as Haruhi emerged from the changing room in a pale pink dress going down to her midcalves with a fabric rose a couple inches above the bottom left hem and one on the right shoulder. She also wore a wig (same colour as her hair) that went down to her shoulder blades.

Then she pulled onto a chair and the tweeds starting applying make up while they spoke.

" **Well this is Tono's strategy, so an 'accident' is bound to happen**."

"That's true." I giggled. Then, speak of the devil, Tamaki burst through the door dramatically. "What are you doing, keeping everyone in here?" He asked. Shouldn't he know? It's _his_ strategy after all. Knowing Tamaki-senpai, he probably forgot.

"Who's looking after our guests-" he cut himself off with a gasp as Haruhi stood up and turned around. He turned a shade of something that resembled red, but I don't think its been discovered 'til just now.

I'll call it the 'when-Haruhi-looks-cute' colour, 'WHLC' for short.

She hobbled down the halk complaining about how her face feels heavy and how she can't walk in the heels she'd been given. Hey, pretty hurts, I should know.

Then Hikaru tapped me on the shoulder and beckoned for me to follow him and his brother as they went to a back room.

There was a plush leather sofa with a flat screen TV in front, with a large bucket of popcorn waiting on the sofa.

"What's all this?" I asked, hearing Tamaki comment on how cute Haruhi looked as Hikaru closed the door behind us.

He picked up a remote from a side table and flicked on the TV. "We set up a camera in the room Haruhi's going to so we could watch what happens." He answered, and I raised my eyebrow at him as I plopped down in between the redheaded tweeds. Kaoru laughed and poked my shoulder while Hikarunset up the channel.

"What? Don't pretend you didn't want to see as well." He pointed out with a mischevious smirk.

I thought about it for a moment. "True." I answered, reaching over Kaoru to grab the bucket of popcorn as Hikaru pressed another button that dimmed the lights.

We focused intently on the screen, sometimes yelling at it despite the fact that neither of the people could hear them.

 _Suzushima stood by the window of the classroom and stared up at the sky, turning slightly as Haruhi entered the room; though he didn't know it was her, obviously._

 _"You wrote this letter? You're a lot different from what I imagined..." He said, holding up an envelope as she walked over._

"She wrote a letter?" I asked, shoveling in more popcorn.

" **Nope, us and Kyoya did.** " They replied.

 _"letter?" She repeated. Suzushima nodded and handed her the envelope, giving hrer a few seconds to read through it._

 _She sweat-dropped before handing it back with a sigh._

 _"Have we met before?" Suzushima asked, not breeaking eye contact as he slipped the envelope back into his pocket._

 _Haruhi jumped na held her hands up in surrender. "Uh, no! This is the first time I've ever talked to you...heh-heh..." She replied nervously._

"Awe, she's so cute!" I said between mouthfuls. The tweeds simply nodded in reply.

 _"I'm sorry. I appreciate what you said, but I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings." Suzushima said, randomly._

"Damn..." Hikaru whistled, grabbing another fistful of popcorn.

"Ouch!" Kaoru winced in sympathy. "That's kind harsh, saying it right out of the blue like that."

"REJECTED!" I yelled, throwing one or two pieces of popcorn at the screen.

"But seriously, he couldn't have given her a bit longer to prepare her heart?" Hikaru reasoned.

Kaoru and I hummed in agreement. "Rude." We replied.

 _"I already have another girl who is dear to me." Suzushima continued. Haruhi straightened up._

 _"I didn't realise you had a girlfriend." She replied._

 _"Well uh, unfortunately, she's not my girlfriend. Infact, I think she's completely over me..." He added, sadness crossing his features and infecting his tone._

 _"And besides, I think she'd be better off with someone more self confident than I am." He concluded._

"wow, drama king much?" Hikaru said, and I giggled a bit, but then I had to stop cuz I started choking on my popcorn.

"Jeez, remember to actually breathe while you eat." Kaoru said, amused as he thudded my back.

"And chew." Hikaru added. I internally sghned at my own dirty dirty mindedness; how could that be taken out of context, I wonder?

I focused back onto the screen, becuase I could hear the two talking again, but I already knew I had missed some stuff.

 _"That's why I wanted a change. Looking at the world, i want to become a better person... I know its selfish, but I wonder if she'll wait for me..." He admitted. There was a moments silence before_

 _"Yeah. That is pretty selfish of you."_

"GOD DAMMIT HARUHI!"

" **SHE RUINED THE MOMENT!** "

We yelled and threw pretty much all the rest of the popcorn at the screen.

Then our attention was dragged back by the sound of a door opening. And who do we see standing there but *tea-cup fetish* herself.

"Perfect timing." Hikaru muttered sarcastically.

 _"*tea-cup fetish*..." Suzushima began, but he trailed off as his friend and fiancée looked at the ground in embarrassment._

 _"Oh, sorry. I seem to be interrupting something." She whispered._

 _"I'll just-" she cut herself off with the tears that began pouring down her cheeks as she too of down the hallway._

 _"Wait!". Suzushima called before dashing after her._

"YEAH, YOU BETTER GO AFTER HER!" I began, picking up nearby bits of popcorn on the sofa to throw at the screen.

" **C'Mon Suzushima! RUN LIKE YOUR LOVE LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"** The tweeds added, then we yelled in unison to finish.

" **CUZ IT DOES!** "

Not long after, Kyoya came in telling us itwas time to go back out to the guests on the balcony. When we got there, there were already a ton of people crowding round the doors. We made our way out and got into position just as Tamaki started to speak.

"Now, ladies and gentleman; this is the last dance of the night, and the host clubs last waltz goes to this couple." He said, gesturing to Suzushima and *tea-cup fetish*.Spotlights fell on them as the doors opened and everyone else came outside to watch.

The two glanced at each other, shocked before Suzushima bowed and stuck out his hand. "Princess *tea-cup fetish*, may I have this dance?" He asked, and she stared at him before smiling.

"Yes."

The audience (including us) watched them dance gracefully, and there was a long moment of applause before Tamaki spoke again.

"May this awkward couple be ever blessed!" He cried, throwing his arms out causing and Haruhi to duck.

Then the tweeds appeared behind him holding microphones and...banana peels?

 **"Tonight's dance queen is miss *tea-cup fetish*!"** they cheered and the audience applauded again.

"Now then, the blessed kiss from the king-" Hikaru began.

"-has been switched to Haruhi Fujioka!" Kaoru concluded before both twins put down their microphones and got into the 'we-know-we-pissed-you-off-but-we-have-this-random-excuse-that-makes-us-innocent' pose before adding. "After all, Kyoya-senpai did say that having an 'accident' towards the end of the night would be more thrilling."

Where did those banana peels go? Meh, I probably just imagined them to begin with. I continued to laugh at Haruhi and Tamaki's expressions as Haruhi attempted to protest.

"Of all the things ya could'a made me do..." She whined, slouching onto the balcony.

"If you do it, we'll reduce your debt by one third." Kyoya added smugly.

"...well it is just a peck on the cheek..." She added, as my laughter increased.

She gracefully walked down the stairs as the twins held Tamaki back by his fore arms to stop him from trying anything.

He was doing okay until Honey pointed out that this might be her first kiss. Then he lost it. He wriggled free of the tweeds' grip and dashed down the stairs. There's that banana peel! ...wait...

He slipped on it just as Haruhi was turning *tea-cup fetish*'s head to reach her cheek. He accidently pushed her back, causing her to kiss the girl full smack on the lips!

"I'm...dying..." I wheezed between breaths as my laughter over powered me and I fell down to land on my knees and rest my head on the balcony.

On a scale of one to ten? I'd give this night a _very_ generous score of six.

* * *

 **#ProudAF cuz this is the longest chapter I've ever written! 5,000 words boiiiiii**


	5. (5) Beware the Physical Exam!

**KISS KISS FUCK MY LIFE**

 ***cue music***

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Beware the physical exam!**

 _No one's POV_

Today, the host club wasn't in their usual club room; and had instead set up tables, chairs and tatamis in one of the fancy-looking gardens that had their own set of double doors.

These doors opened slowly with a creak to reveal the host club standing in their cosplay surrounded by falling pink petals that came from the nearby sakura trees.

Four hosts were dressed as traditional waiters (the twins, Kyoya and Tamaki) with long pale pink aprons over their school trousers and shoes with black waist coats, red bow ties and long sleeved white button down shirts. Tamaki held a tray, Kyoya held his laptop and the red-headed 'little devils' held each other. No surprise there.

The other four were in yukatas (Mori, Honey, Haruhi and Marcelline). Mori's yukata was a mix of dark blue and dark green at the top with a black bottom and a black sash thingy round the middle (I dont know what it's called, so I'm gonna save myself some time and just call it a sash, sorry if I'm wrong). He also had a katana tucked into his sash. Why? We may never know.

Honey's yukata was open with a pale lilac top and this scarf thing that was a darker shade of purple. Then the bottom was pale pink with a sash the same colour as the scarf thing.

Haruhi's yukata was a dark red at the top with a grey sash and a white bottom with three clips in the right side of her hair.

Marcelline's yukata was white at the top and bottom with a red sash. Her hair was in a low traditional bun with those chopstick thingies in it with a white lily. Don't judge me. I just know what they look like, not what they're called.

The eight hosts (if Marcie counts) were stood in their poses and bid the guests a warm welcome as they all charged through the doors.

Once everyone was settled, Marcelline got to work on her duties.

First stop: Tamaki's table

She stood with a smile of fake patience as the guest took way too long than necessary to pick a cup that she wanted her tea in. Tamaki wasn't helping, as he was just naming the types of cups. Then he made the whole thing pointless because the guest asked which cup he liked best, he went on about none of them comparing to the beauty of his princess. Then he picked up the guests hand and popped her personal bubble with the thorns on the pure red roses that bloomed around him.

Roses? Now she's hallucinating, surely. Marcie rubbed her eyes with her free hand and sighed in relief when she opened them to reveal that the roses were gone.

She then set down the foley (I think that's how you spell it probably, possibly, maybe, no...) and proceeded to push her cart to the twins' table. (When I say 'cart' I mean those little carts with towels and food and stuff that hotel staff have)

Second stop: Twins' table

She was just in time to see Kaoru clumsily spill a cup of tea and burn his finger. Hikaru gasped and dramatically pulled his brother closer to him, putting the burned finger in his mouth.

"Pay more attention, Kaoru! From now on, keep your eyes on me..." he said, setting off the fangirls.

"Hikaru..." Kaoru whispered in reply.

Marcelline sighed. _They're sparkling again..._ she thought to herself in amusement.

"Honestly. And I thought _I_ was the clumsy one." She mused, pulling a small tea-towel from the cart. They looked at her in slight shock as the blonde leaned over Hikaru slightly in order to wrap the towel around Kaoru's finger; but only after it had been removed from Hikaru's mouth. Ew.

"I know this sounds weird coming from me, but you should be more careful." She continued her lecture until she noticed the Cheshire-like grins radiating from the twins. _And they wonder why I call them 'tweeds'_ she thought.

"What?" She asked, slightly frightened as to what they were plotting.

"thank you Marcie-chan!" Kaoru cried using his raspy host voice as he tugged on her wrist with his non-burned hand to make her lose her balance and fall into the small gap inbetween the red-heads. This, of course, got the fan girls going. Again.

 _Aw hell naw_.

She let out a small 'eep' as she fell, and she could hear the twin 'dopplegangers' trying to contain their laughter. Her desperate attempts to get up were futile, due to Hikaru seizing her other wrist. "Leaving so soon?" He cooed, also in his host voice.

 _Double hell naw_

One fan girl swooned. "I can't take it! It's too much!" She cried, raising an arm to her forehead and throwing her head back dramatically. Her friend tugged on the girls sleeve.

"Wake up, you don't wanna miss this! Who knows when it'll happen again?!" She yelled into her swooning friend's ear while shaking her violently. _Fan girls are scary..._

Then, Kyoya used his special host ability of 'appearing out of no where'. "You're absolutely right, miss. All beauty is fleeting; take these Sakura blossoms for example. You'll never see them this vibrant again." He said, before using his other special host ability of 'pulling god-knows what out of god-knows where'. In this case, the 'god-knows what' part was replaced with 'four picture books'. On the cover of one was a picture of Tamaki, on another cover of one was a picture of Haruhi, on another one was a picture of Mori and Honey. On the last one was a picture of the twins which he held in a separate hand (the book, not the twins)

"That's why I've complied these picture books that catch the beauty of each passing day; incidentally, I've prepared similar books for the other hosts as well." He held up his other hand with the other three books in.

"And if you ladies are interested in collecting all four of them, I'll discount the full set for you." Kyoya concluded.

"I'll take them!"

"Me too, please!" The fan girls chirped excitedly.

 **"Well, now we know how the club makes it's extra money."** The twins chorused, releasing Marcie's wrists.

"But, I have to wonder-" Hikaru began, letting his brother finish.

"-when did he take pictures of us?"

Now that she had been unhanded, Marcelline took the opportunity to desperately escape and go back to her duties; after waving a polite yet silent good-bye to the guests.

Final stop: Mori, Honey and Haruhi's...tatami on the floor

 _Marcie POV_

I wheeled my cart over to where the last three hosts were and sat down next to Haruhi. I didn't need to re-fill any of the guests' tea because Honey-senpai was making some kind of green soup. He seemed really focused, but I think he was over doing it a bit.

Cautiously, I leaned to my left so I could whisper in Haruhi's ear. "I don't really know what he's making, but isn't he overdoing it a bit?"

She glanced towards me before leaning to her right so she could whisper back. "Definately overdoing it. Should we say something to him?"

We debated it in silence, but in the end it was pointless because Mori-senpai told him anyway. But I swear he called Honey 'Mitskuni'. I'm probably just imagining things, though...

Honey stopped sturring/murdering the soup stuff to reveal that there was little more than a drop left. The six of us (Me, Haruhi, Honey, Mori and two guests) stared at the bowl in silence for a minute, but then Honey-senpai's eyes started to water.

 _Noooo! He's too cute to cry!_

I found myself staring at Mori-senpai with a face that said 'DO SOMETHING' but his expression remained blank.

Then the guest sitting closest to Honey quickly picked up the bowl and said "Honey, I'll take it! It looks so yummy." And then she tipped the bowl up and started to drink it.

Then the other guest piped up too, playing along "It's just the right amount for both of us! Anymore would have been too much. How did you know? You never cease to amaze me!" She said.

Haruhi and I sweat dropped as we stood up to leave.

"I'm not seeing any guests right now, need a hand?" Haruhi asked.

 _Praise her adorable helpfulness!_

"Yeah, thanks! The more I witness this host stuff, the more brain cells I lose." I joked, handing her the tray with all the different cups on it. She then put on a smirk and said "That's worrying, considering how many you had in the first place." She teased, and I imitated Kaoru doing his bit of the brotherly love act.

"How could you, Haru-chan? Why must you be so mean to me?" I said with the back of my free hand on my fore head in that pose that the guests do when they're mid-swoon.

She laughed and played along. "I'm sorry Marcie-chan! I'll never do it again." We both laughed hysterically after she copied my pose, and then Tamaki came over to see why his 'daughters' were laughing like maniacs in such weird poses.

"How are you two doing? Are you having a good time?" He asked.

"Hey, senpai." We greeted him after we had calmed down.

"The flower viewing reception is going over quite well; but even so, it's rather daunting to spend more time being admired than doing the admiring." He finished his statement with a dramatic hair-flip.

"Oh wow senpai." I said, sarcastically.

"You're blooming in more ways than one." Haruhi added.

"You noticed!" Tamaki yelled as he pointed at her, making us jump.

"Yes, today my beauty is quite splenderous; I'm in full bloom. I bet one of you will fall for me soon!" He concluded by pointing again with a wink.

"...what's 'splenderous'?" I whispered to Haruhi, but she was too busy twitching her eyebrow in anger.

"I swear, this guy must live life completely unaware of the hardships of this world." She whispered back as two arms draped over each of our shoulders.

 _Uh oh._

" **Have the two of you decided on your elective course for this term?** " I heard two identical voices say.

 _They're everywhere!_

"what about conversational French?" Kaoru suggested.

"I don't know." Haruhi replied, not phased that everyone keeps using their special host abilities of 'appearing out of no where'. What if she's not phased because she can do it too? She is a host, after all. That would be so cool! I wonder if she can teach me...

"I think the four of us should take it together; it makes sense-" Hikaru began before both twins twisted round to stare at Tamaki as they concluded in unison.

" **We are in the same class" L** ightning struck Tamaki before he teleported to his emo-corner and called for 'mummy-dear'.

Kyoya answered, again, appearing out of no where and saying "What is it now, _Daddy_?" He replied with an amused grin as he pushed up his glasses and continued to type in his laptop which was, of course, supplied by the ability 'pulling god knows what out of god knows where'. I wonder how many times they use these abilities in a day.

I didn't hear the rest of their weird parental discussion/family meeting due to the tweeds pulling us away to talk about our elective courses.

I did, however see Kyoya use the 'pull god knows what out of god knows where' ability again (4th time) and pull out a large whiteboard with two pie charts on it.

One had a title of 'twin time with the girls' and the other had 'Tamaki time with the girls'. Said blonde didn't seem too happy about the amount of 'Tamaki time' he had with his 'daughters'.

He charged over and pried Haruhi and I away from the twins, tightly gripping our shoulders as he yelled.

"Marcie! Haruhi! I want you both to stop hanging around those shady twins from now on!" He demanded. How am I supposed to do that? I live with them, for fucks sake.

"Oh, sure thing, Tamaki. I'll just go be homeless over there. Have fun while I slowly starve to death." I said, sarcastically as I shrugged off his hand from my shoulder.

Haruhi laughed as the twins smirked before turning back to Tamaki. "Who're you callin' shady?" Kaoru demanded.

"Yeah, take a look at your self, Tono." Hikaru added; though Tamaki didn't seem to be listening to them as he mumbled something before quickly turning around and grabbing Haruhi by the shoulders for what must've been the third time today.

"We can't go on hiding the fact that you're a girl from everyone in the school any longer!" He declared. "All daddy wants is for you to go back to being the girl you used to be, for you to surround yourself with girlfriends and start leading a wholesome life." Haruhi has no girlfriends, huh? Guess I'll just go die in a hole, then...

"What am I, a cockroach?" I said sarcastically, causing the tweeds to laugh as Haruhi mumbled "Who are you calling 'daddy'?".

"So do it! Change back now, change right now!" Tamaki whined, pulling Haruhi's sleeve.

The tweeds bobbed their heads from side to side while making the 'whatever' sign with their hands. "You don't have to rush things, she's going to be found out soon enough." Hikaru...reassured?

"Physical exams are the day after tomorrow." Kaoru added.

"Physical...exams?" Haruhi repeated, and I leaned over to her and whispered "What are those?"*

"That's right, I forgot all about it." Kyoya admitted after appearing out of no where (for the 5th time). Is he feeling okay? Since when does _Kyoya Otori_ forget stuff?

Haruhi rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Then, there's no doubt." She said, and I eventually caught on.

"Everyone's gonna know you're a girl..." I stated to no one in particular. "This should be interesting..."

The next day, the hosts weren't seeing any guests, so everyone was just lounging around in the club room.

Tamaki was daydreaming in his posh arm-chair, Kyoya was on his laptop at the long table in the centre of the room, Honey was eating cake, Mori was watching him, Kaoru had fallen asleep while Hikaru, Haruhi and I debated whether or not we wanted to risk drawing on his face.

I had just whipped out a red sharpie when Tamaki muttered something along the lines of "Oh, you!" causing Kaoru to jolt awake and glare at our positions. Kaoru had fallen asleep lying on his back on one of the sofas. Hikaru was leaning over the back of the sofa holding a black sharpie, Haruhi leaning over the front with a dark green sharpie and me leaning over the arm of the sofa by his head with a red sharpie.

"..."

"..."

"What are the three of you doing." He deadpanned, somehow managing to glare at all three of us at the same time. I chucked my sharpie over my shoulder and began doing the signature whistle of innocence while Haruhi and Hikaru began conversing about the random topic of why it was so difficult to flip a pancake.

I ship them so hard. Glancing down at Kaoru, I ceased my whistling and arched an eyebrow at him. He wore a soft smile as he watched his twin talk to my best friend. The smile was a mixture of happiness, sadness, confusion, maybe a little bit of longing? What could he possibly be thinking about to give him an expression like that?

Maybe he ships them too? He caught me staring at him, and I darted my eyes to the pair before looking back at him and wiggling my eyebrows. A subtle way of saying 'those two seem cute together'. Kaoru nodded in reply and we both chuckled as Honey skipped over to us closely followed by Mori.

"Tama-chan must be having a really good day dream!" He said, hugging usa-chan. Hikaru turned away from his conversation with Haruhi.

"He's creeping me out." He replied. I hummed in agreement before Tamaki sat up and pointed dramatically at Hikaru.

"He's sparkling..." I mused while Tamaki ranted about Hikaru getting jealous and how he and his brilliance had 'seen the outcome of this charade'.

Then, he said something the brain of an otaku such as myself was truly creeped out by.

"This anime is obviously a romantic school comedy. Haruhi and I are the main characters, so that must mean we are love interests." He concluded smugly. As if that didn't shock me enough, I could swear I heard Kyoya mutter 'odd. I thought this was fan fiction...'

I was tempted to yell 'QUIT IT! YOU'RE SHATTERING THE FOURTH WALL, HERE!' but that would just break another fourth wall; right author?

 **Wha? Hey! Don't talk to me, you're just breaking a THIRD fourth wall.**

woah...how many walls even is that?

 **Idk, like...12? Anyway, stop talking to me!**

Oh; right.**

" **What does that make us, then**?" The tweeds asked.

Tamaki pushed the six of us back a bit before using the host ability 'pull god knows what out of god knows where' (7th time) to summon a stick and use it to draw a line in front of us.

I assume I was hallucinating now, because there was suddenly an aura of 'homo' surrounding Tamaki as he declared that the tweeds, Kyoya, Honey, Mori and I were all the 'homosexual supporting cast' and told us not to step over the line.

So of course, the tweeds and I immediately stepped over said line. "You gotta be kidding me." I said, firmly crossing my arms over my chest.

"Hey, listen boss." (Hikaru)

"I don't think you get it." (Kaoru)

"If everyone finds out that Haru-chan is really a girl, then she won't be able to be in the host club anymore. But if she started wearing girls clothes, I bet she'd be even cuter than she is now!" Honey added cheerfully.

"And I assume that if Haruhi leaves, then Marcelline will quit the club as well?" Kyoya said, causing the twins to look up in shock. " **But she can't quit! What about the contract she has with our mum?** " They cried, suddenly appearing on either side of me, clinging to an arm each. Despite me only living with them for a week and three days, these tweeds were surprisingly clingy.

"The contract simply says that I have to live and go to school in this area; I'm only here in Ouran because of an enrollment my step-dad set up. There's nothing saying I have to be in this _school_ , let alone in the host club." I informed, proud of myself for remembering so much. Haruhi would confirm that I have a memory worse than a...what's that orange fish with a terrible memory?

Whatever. The twins pouted before straightening up, and then everyone continued with the original conversation.

"Wait, so Haruhi dressed like a regular girl in middle school, right? I bet the two of you were pretty popular with the guys." Hikaru asked, and Kyoya replied.

"Yeah, according to my research, someone would declare their undying love for one of them at least once a month each."

I fidgeted uncomfortably. How does he know that?

"Oh I see. So the boss wouldn't be able to get close to either of them." Kaoru mused, flashing Tamaki a quick glance and a smug grin.

"But we'd be able to, since we're in class with them all day long; not to mention the fact that Marcie _lives_ with us." Hikaru finished, mirroring his brother.

Tamaki then dramatically grabbed Haruhi by the shoulders. "Don't worry, Haruhi! No one will find out that you're a girl during tomorrow's physical exams, so promise you'll stay our beloved secret princess!" He declared, shaking her back and forth.

Haruhi seemed thoroughly disturbed but played along anyway. "Sure." She replied.

"Ya know what, I think both of us would be pretty peeved if we had to watch all the guys flirt with her." Hikaru said, turning to his brother. Awe, someone's jelly.

"Yeah, watching them flirt with Marcie is annoying enough as it is." Kaoru agreed.

" **Then that settles it.** "

Multiple host abilities were used to gather all the hosts around a white board while Haruhi and I remained where we were.

"Listen up, squad members. At tomorrow's physical exams, position yourselves in formation A, then wait for your orders." Tamaki instructed.

" **Yes, sir!** " the tweeds chanted as Honey-senpai clapped in awe. He's just too cute.

"I've got it! You guys are worried because if they find out I'm a girl then I can't be a host and therefore can't repay my debt." Haruhi announced, causing me to facepalm. She may be adorable, but some times she's also kinda stupid.

"No shit Sherlock, what tipped ya' off?" I replied sarcastically. She ignored me and whipped out a calculator. HA! I KNEW SHE COULD USE THE HOST ABILITY! Next she'll be appearing out of no where!

"My balance is 5, 333, 332 yen." She concluded, putting the calculator down on a table. I hissed with a wince.

"That's a lot."

"I guess I'll have to come up with some other way to pay you back." Haruhi said before turning to me. "You'll help, right?" She asked.

"Duh!" I replied enthusiastically as we high fived.

 **"Do something! The subject doesn't appear to have any motivation!"** The tweeds panicked.

Tamaki sighed. "Why did we have to get stuck with such a difficult heroine?" He whined before sharply turning to us.

"Are you saying that you hate being a host? That you hate this club?!" Tamaki demanded.

"Yes." Haruhi and I replied immediately in unison without hesitation; and sending Tamaki to his emo corner.

"I mean, you guys aren't bad, but if it gets out that I'm a girl then there's nothing I can do, ya know?" Haruhi added.

"Neither of them care one way or another!" Hikaru groaned.

"Well before we do anything else, we need to find a way to motivate them." Kaoru pointed out, and there was a moment of silence before Mori-senpai spoke.

I know, right? Mori spoke.

"Fancy food." He suggested, and Kyoya confirmed it.

"The two of you wanted tuna and strawberry cheesecake, right?".

This set them off.

"Oh that's right, you didn't get to eat any in last episodes party, did you?" Tamaki said in a creepy voice as he slowly emerged from his emo corner.

"Did you hear that? They've never tried things as simple as sushi and cheesecake, how awful." Hikaru stage whispered.

"Talk about a difficult childhood." Kaoru confirmed, nodding his head for added effect.

"If only they could stay in the host club; then they'd both be able to eat all kinds of yummy things whenever they like." Honey concluded, playing with usa-chan.

I stayed silent, there's no way I'm letting them win me over that easy! As much as I want that fancy strawberry cheesecake, there's no way I'm giving up my pride for it, they'll have to try harder than that.

Haruhi however...

"What are you talking about? Don't be silly. Just because I'm 'poor' and I've never had it, doesn't mean I'm so much of a glutton that I'd go on fooling everyone about my gender just to try some fancy tuna...am I really gonna get to try it?" She started strong before giving up at the end.

"Okay, now how do we convince Marcelline?"Tamaki asked, causing all the hosts to stare at me before expectantly looking at Haruhi. I looked at her too, with an expression that said 'don't you dare tell them.'

She told them.

"Simple. She's weak to cute things. Honey-senpai, go give her your best puppy-dog eyes." She informed before gently nudging Honey towards me.

Said blonde stood and stared, batting his eye-lashes with an innocent look as he hugged usa-chan. Remember what I told you about him being able to wrap me around his little finger by batting his eye-lashes and saying 'pretty please?'?

"Pretty please, Marcie-chan?" He asked.

Yup, there it is.

God damn me and my weakness of cute things.

I 'hmphed' and crossed my arms back over my chest as I turned away with narrowed eyebrows and a pout. "Fine. But I better get some cheesecake at some point in this so called 'anime'." I huffed, but I have to agree with Kyoya, this _does_ feel like more of a fanfiction.

The next day, Haruhi, the tweeds and I were walking along the hallway of the west building while whoever was on the loudspeaker repeated their message for the fifth time.

 _'We will be conducting physical examinations shortly. Will all students please proceed to the clinic in their respective school building.'_

"If she repeats that again, I'll conduct a physical examination on her spleen." I grumbled.

"Spleen?" Kaoru asked while the others laughed slightly. Haruhi smirked.

"It's her favourite word." She informed. The twins stared at me with amused smirks and a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's fun to say." I replied before demonstrating. "Spleeeeenuh." They laughed at me again as we turned a corner in the hallway to be joined by a ton of other students walking in the same direction.

"So what was with that 'formation A' thing you guys were talking about yesterday? What do they do at physical exams here, anyway?" Haruhi asked.

"It's no different from any other physical exam." Hikaru informed.

"Yeah, why would they be different for us just because we're rich." Kaoru added.

"Mm, that's a good point, I guess." I said.

"Right, I didn't think about it that way." Haruhi replied just as we opened the door to our building's clinic.

'Its no different' they said. 'Why would it be any different for us' they said. Tell that to the red carpet; the 50 nurses; the 50 doctors; the satin-curtained booths; the 50 DOCTORS AND NURSES SAYING 'welcome, students!' IN POSES.

WHAT KIND OF OURAN HOSPITAL HOST CLUB BULLSHIT IS THIS!?

"W-what _is_ this...?" Haruhi asked. Close enough.

"Just another physical exam." Hikaru replied, walking past us with his hands behind his head.

"The usual." Kaoru shrugged, also walking past us with his arms in the 'duh' pose.

"The usual?" Haruhi and I repeated before glancing at each other and letting out an 'ugh'.

These damn rich people.

* * *

 **I reuploaded the first and second chapters because there were some grammar and spelling errors that I needed to correct, so if you wanna read those again go ahead. I wrote this chapter while I was off sick from school, so if something doesn't really make sense then plz don't judge me. That is all.**

* * *

*What are thooosssseee

**Did I do all that just to make a dead pool reference? Yes. Yes I did.


	6. (6) BtPE! (Part 2)

**yeh, it's me again. Hi :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Beware The Physical Exam! (Part 2)**

The next day, Haruhi, the tweeds and I were walking along the hallway of the west building while whoever was on the loudspeaker I repeated their message for the fifth time.

' _We will be conducting physical examinations shortly. Will all students please proceed to the clinic in their respective school building_.'

"If she repeats that again, I'll conduct a physical examination on her spleen." I grumbled.

"Spleen?" Kaoru asked while the others laughed slightly. Haruhi smirked.

"It's her favourite word." She informed. The twins stared at me with amused smirks and a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's fun to say." I replied before demonstrating. "Spleeeeenuh." They laughed at me again as we turned a corner in the hallway to be joined by a ton of other students walking in the same direction.

"So what was with that formation A thing you guys were talking about yesterday? What do they do at physical exams here, anyway?" Haruhi asked.

"It's no different from any other physical exam." Hikaru informed.

"Yeah, why would they be different for us just because we're rich." Kaoru added.

"Mm, that's a good point, I guess." I said.

"Right, I didn't think about it that way." Haruhi replied just as we opened the door to our building's clinic.

'Its no different than any other exam' they said. 'Why would it be any different for us' they said. Tell that to the red carpet; the 50 nurses; the 50 doctors; the satin-curtained booths; the 50 DOCTORS AND NURSES SAYING 'welcome, students!' IN POSES.

WHAT KIND OF OURAN HOSPITAL HOST CLUB BULLSHIT IS THIS!?

"W-what _is_ this...?" Haruhi asked. Close enough.

"Just another physical exam." Hikaru replied, walking past us with his hands behind his head.

"The usual." Kaoru shrugged, also walking past us with his arms in the 'duh' pose.

"The usual?" Haruhi and I repeated before glancing at each other and letting out an 'ugh'.

These damn rich people.

We followed the twins down the long red carpet as all the other students filed into the room.

Two nurses in pink knee high puffy dresses and white aprons approached us. "Excuse me, Hitachiin brothers. Please follow me this way to have your height measured." She asked.

" **Sure thing**." They replied, following the nurse over to a nearby booth. The second nurse was Haruhi's.

"Mr Fujioka? I'm your nurse for the physical exams this afternoon, please follow me." Haruhi nodded and they were just about to leave when the nurse spotted me.

"Do you know where you're going, miss?" She asked, and I internally sighed in relief. No. No I don't know where I'm going.

"Uh, no." I replied, and she pulled out a clip board with all the names of the students sorted into a table of male/female. If this list existed all this time, how has no one found out that Haruhi is a girl yet?

"What's your name? I'll see if I can find you on the list." She said, gliding her finger down the 'female' column.

"Marcelline Haninozuka. But, uh; as you can probably tell by my uniform, my name will be in the 'male' column." I informed and she nodded before switching columns and continuing to glide a finger down the list.

"That makes sense...mmm...ah, there you are. You're in the special boys clinic, miss. Would you like me to escort you there after I'm done here?" She asked, and I nodded.

While we walked, we saw Honey and Mori dressed in doctors uniforms with circular glasses. A few girls were crowded around them, wondering aloud why Honey and Mori were dressed as doctors.

"Honey-senpai! Mori-senpai!" I called, waving at them as we walked past. They both put a finger to their lips as if it was supposed to be a secret.

"But it's so obvious..." Haruhi mused. Then Kyoya appears out of no where (11th time) and said about how dressing up makes it feel like a real espionage.

Kyoya walked off somewhere while the nurse led us past more booths, and we caught a few of the conversations between the staff and students before we stopping outside a booth surrounded by a bunch of squealing girls.

Why did we stop there? Why were they squealing? These are some of life's great questions.

One of life's great questions were answered as the fan girl in front of me swooned so low that I was able to see the front of the crowd.

I should have guessed that it would be the tweeds; and the crowd literally went wild as they spoke with a nurse and...removed...their shirts...

Kyoya reappeared again with a host ability (10th time) and supplied an explanation to Haruhi's confused face.

"Quite a turnout today. Physical exam day is quite popular with the ladies, we get a lot of new customers." Realisation overtook my features as I begun to understand.

"ooohhh yeah...I remember everything being more dramatic than usual when you guys did that Bali cosplay." I recalled, remembering how Kyoya had said that 'showing some skin was popular with the ladies.' I sweat dropped as we followed the nurse further into the crowd of screeching banshee-I mean fan girls. Fan girls...

"What's wrong with the girls at this school?" Haruhi asked, sweatdropping and twitching an eyebrow. As we drew closer to the front, we were just in time to hear the tweeds start up their brotherly love act.

"I won't allow it. It's just not fair; I won't let those doctors touch you, Kaoru." Hikaru whispered, clinging to his brother affectionately.

Kaoru laughed and said "What are you talking about? You don't seem to have a problem touching me when we play doctors at home." I was creeped out, but I guess it's kinda cute that they're still playing those childish pretend ga-

"I can't get you to stop tickling and toying with my body." Kaoru finished. Never mind... it's not cute anymore, they ruined it.

I don't know what I expected, to be honest.

I turned around to see that Haruhi had disappeared, but the nurse walked over to me and told me that the special boys clinic was at the end of the hall and that I should make my way there on my own because she was...busy?

I sighed and continued walking down the red carpet to see another crowd of squealing girls. Which host is it now?

The curtains were drawn shut, and I could hear muffled voices from inside. Is the nurse helping him disrobe?

Then a nearby fan girl squealed and turned to her friend.

"Haruhi's coming up next!"

Oh god. Well, I guess

Now it's time to see what Tamaki's amazing plan was to keep Haruhi's gender a secret. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a bit worried. But I bet it will be hilarious.

"Mr Fujioka, are you ready to be measured now?" The nurse asked cheerfully, and a small inhale of anticipation was shared among the crowd of Haruhi lovers.

The curtain was quickly drawn back to reveal-

Tamaki. It was Tamaki in a wig. I have officially lost faith in humanity.

The crowd whispered about whether or not Tamaki was trying to be funny while said blonde ripped off the wigs and strangled a nearby tweed who appeared with his brother and started laughing about how 'he actually did it'.

Again, I don't know what I expected, to be honest.

I sighed, having given up with trying to make sense of things, speed-walked to the special boys clinic where a nurse with a brown ponytail and glasses greeted me and took my measurements. It was pretty quick, and there was some spare time, so I was allowed to sit on one of the spare chairs while the nurse waited for a second student she was supposed to be assisting.

Just as I was wondering who this other student was, Haruhi and Kyoya walked through.

I sighed. I don't know what I expected, to be honest. Kyoya did say that he owned a ton of businesses, why wouldn't he have set this up?

After Haruhi filled me on what the hell Tamaki was trying to do earlier, she went into the booth to disrobe.

Only to call me in to help her a couple seconds later. I got permission from the nurse (who was sat at her desk typing away on the computer and clearly couldn't care less) and walked through.

"What do you need?" I asked. She had already removed her boa or and undone three of the buttons on her shirt, but she was glaring down angrily at the tie around her neck that she was currently holding in a deadly grip.

"This damn tie. I can't undo it." She huffed. I smirked and walked over, taking the tie and using my nails to get into the tight parts of the knots. Haruhi is smart with school stuff, but when it comes to simple everyday things like tying or undoing knots, or sewing up those annoying holes in my jeans, she's adorably dense.

I was just about to pull the curtain aside to leave Haruhi in peace when it was drawn back on its own. There was a guy with shabby hair and a long white lab coat who obviously _not_ one of the school's doctors.

"...uuuuh..." I let out a quiet noise of confusion that was quickly muffled by the dudes hand being shoved over my mouth.

Haruhi turned around at my noise and raised an eyebrow in alarm at the sight of this random dude with his hand over my mouth and she was all like "...excuse me...?" And he politely told her to shut up and I'm like DAMN and then he started walking forward.

For every step he took forward, I took one back. HELP! IM GONNA BE RAPED! THE CONCEQUENCES OF BEING A PRETTY MODEL ARE COMING BACK TO BITE ME IN THE ASS!

As he drew closer to Haruhi, he put his hand over her mouth as well.

"Please, it's not what you think! Just keep quiet." IM TOO YOUNG TO DIE QUETLY. I took a deep inhale through my nose (his hand smells like alchohol and...doritos?) and readied myself to scream and alert the nurse outside (like seriously, she just let this guy in?) but there was a sudden cry as Tamaki flew in through the curtain.

"TAMA-CHAN, KICK!" And he harshly introduced his foot to the guy's face...

The guy was sent flying and make a crack in the wall as the other hosts appeared (some of them shirtless) using multiple host abilities (I can't be assed to count so I'll just say it's 20) to say multiple parts of some kind of speech.

"One. Good looks that attract the public eye." The twins began, appearing next to me. This reminds me of something...team rocket?

To protect the world from devastation.

"Two. More wealth than you could imagine." Kyoya said.

To unite all people within our nation.

"Three." Mori began. "Chivalry that would never be able to overlook..."

To denounce the evils of truth and love.

"...the hideous wickedness of this world." Honey finished.

To extend our reach to the stars above! Jessie! James!

"This is what makes up the Ouran host club!" Tamaki declared as everyone got into poses.

Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light. Surrender now, or prepare to fight!

"We're here, watch out!" Everyone finished in unison as Tamaki dropped his shirt over Haruhi's head to cover herself with.

Meowth :3 that's right!

The man on the floor, his hair covered in plaster from the wall, cowered in fear. "Please don't hurt me! Spare my life." He pleaded, while Haruhi and I sweat-dropped and looked around in confusion. Someone please fire that nurse. She clearly doesn't give a fuck about seven men just running into the booth while two girls are in there, not to mention how one was meant to be getting undressed.

Suddenly, the man piped up again and told us that he was a doctor. "I have a small emergency medical clinic in the next town over. My name is Yabu." He informed.

I cocked my head to the side. "Yabu?" I repeated.

"That's crazy. What a terrible name for a doctor!" Kaoru said, before turning to Hikaru.

"Unless you're a quack." They said, and I bit the inside of my cheek in an attempt to hide the laughter that bubbled up in my stomach. What? I'm a sucker for good puns.

"I know. I'm here because I was hoping to see my daughter. My wife left me last month and took my daughter with her. But I know she goes to school here." Yabu explained. I leaned over to Haruhi.

"Suddenly it's his life story?" I whispered, and I saw her trying not to laugh and allowed myself to smile in triumph; wiggling my eyebrows at her.

She ignored me and said "I don't mean to pry or anything, but why did they leave?". Don't mean to burst your lil' bubble there, Haruhi; but that's definitely prying.

Yabu didn't seem to care in the slightest though, and was happy to tell us how his wife walked out on him because of all his 'I.O.U's, and how his daughter was quick to follow her.

"And that was it. They left me forever. I know I'm bad at managing our money, and I can't say no to anyone, I don't blame them for being tired of constantly living in debt, but I wanted to see my daughter one more time, so I came here. After being pelted by rain and wandering aimlessly, I found your school. When I entered, I was mistaken for a doctor!" Yabu continued. I sighed and face palmed. Hate to break it to you, but you are in a lab coat. Of course you'd be mistaken for a doctor.

"And then it happened. When I tried to ask her about my duaughter, the girl started screaming; and before I knew it there were all kinds of people chasing me!" He cried. Tamaki (still shirtless) was down on one knee comforting the guy.

During the conversation, we had all somehow moved out of the booth and were now standing in the main room with the nurse.

Said nurse looked pissed.

She was wearing a facial expression that said 'Da FUQ ya'll doin' in ma office?'.

Pissed.

"Mr Yabu, I think you may have the wrong place. You're looking for Ouran Public Highechool, right?" Kyoya asked.

Yabu nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"I figured that may be the case. This is Ouran Academy; a private institution. Your daughter doesn't go to school here." Kyoya informed with a smile that would have been a mix of smug and triumphant on anyone else, but a smile like that suited Kyoya.

"Man, that's pretty sad. You don't even know what school your daughter goes to?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I bet your relationship is messed up because you don't pay enough attention to her, not cuz of some stupid debt." Kaoru supplied.

They were ignored again, but this time by Tamaki who patted Yabu on the shoulder and requested a map with all the schools in the area; saying how he wanted to help Yabu find his daughter.

And I'm just like 'did I miss something, or is Tamaki-senpai still insane?' And of course it turned out to be the latter.

So we waved to Yabu as he left with a map of all the public schools in the area. Then the rest of us (excluding the nurse) walked back into the changing room.

"Are you sure about this, Tono?" (Hikaru)

"Yeah, even if he does find his daughter, there's no guarantee that she'll even wanna talk to him." (Kaoru)

"Well then, that's something he'll have to figure out for himself." (Tamaki)

"Awe, look at you. Bein' all sentimental and stuff." (Me)

"I'm really sorry about this, but could you guys get out?" (Haruhi)

Tamaki gasped as if he just remembered something important. Then

he turned a ghostly pale as his hair was stuck by lightning and he began to slowly erode away. "Haruhi, are you still mad at me?" He cried, before gripping Haruhi and I by the shoulder. "The two of you aren't going to leave the host club, are you?!"

I sighed as I shook my head while shrugging off his arm. "Don't be stupid, senpai."

"I just have to finish my physical exam." Haruhi explained, before quickly adding "as a male student of course."

"uh, but lemme explain; We're not doing this because you're bribing us with food. We're doing it to repay Haruhi's debt. Right?" I finished, turning towards said friend. She raised an eyebrow and whispered in my ear.

"Speak for yourself." Before quickly agreeing to my statement for the benefit of the other hosts.

Then Tamaki did what was probably bound to happen some time today; he called her cute and clomped her saying how she can't fool him, and how she's only in it for the tuna.

I'ts the truth, but she'll never admit that.

"Hey! Don't touch me there!" Haruhi suddenly yelped.

"Time to shank a bitch." I deadpanned. Cuz no one is gonna harass Haruhi under my watch. Nu-uh.

" **Red card!** " The tweeds called.

"Looks like Tamaki-" (Hikaru)

"-is the real pervert!" (Kaoru)

"who cares! Would you guys just get out of here!?" (Haruhi)

* * *

 _I run and run a thousand miles,_

 _and I am barely breathing_

* * *

 **Yep. I decided to be one of those people who put song lyrics at the end :P**

* * *

*I am so sorry, I'm in a Pokemon mood.


	7. (7) Marcie's Birthday!

**This chapter is a lil bit shorter than all my others but I wrote it in two days (today and yesterday) because it was my birthday yesterday and I wanted to update this story with a birthday chapter because inspiration, confetti and sparkles. Your argument is invalid.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Marcie's Birthday**

 _Marcie POV_

Do you ever have a dream where you're re-living a memory, but when you wake up it's difficult to remember? You desperately claw at the restraints of your brain; only to find that the more you try to grab at the memory, the more it slips through your fingers until you finally give up and get on with your day.

Sometimes, you can only remember one quote. One image. It sticks in your head the whole day, haunting you. Taunting you with the fact that you couldn't remember the explanation or story behind its existence.

 _"My favourite time of the year is our birthday. Because it means we're aloud to spend the whole day with all the people we care about! Promise you won't open our presents without me? That you'll always wait for me to get back?"_

That was one of those dreams. This was one of those quotes.

This was going to be one of those days, it seems.

 _Kaoru POV_

Kyoya and Haruhi had informed us (and the rest of our class) that it was Marcie's birthday today.

Hikaru and I had asked her multiple times what she wanted us to do and what to buy; but she didn't seem bothered at all.

Everyone gave her her presents and cards during class and club hours. A few boys even came down to the host club to see her. They promised to come back tomorrow, actually.

Kyoya said if she keeps it up, then he'll consider upgrading her from 'errand girl' to 'hostess'.

She didn't open any of the things she was given, they were all put into two huge black bags while she insisted that she would open them later.

However, I did see her opening all the cards and taking out the money in them; then when she was done, the three of us walked back to the host club where she told us tonait outside while she spoke to Kyoya who was alone inside.

 **~Flashback business is going down in this shit~**

 _Hikaru had left his bag in class, so Kaoru patiently waited for him outside the door of the host club while he ran back to get. They always open the doors together, so he didn't want to go in without his brother._

 _From the other side of the door; He noticed voices, which he was soon able to recognise as Kyoya and Marcie._

 _"What are they up to...?" He mumbled to no one in particular. Sliding the door ajar, be peaked in at the two to earwig on their conversation._

 _Some say that earwigging is impolite and rude, the Hitachiin brothers say it's entertaining. If there's any juicy gossip, then you can use it for black mail material later. That's always fun._

 _"Here." Marcie said, simply as she held out a fist of money. Her expression was as if Kyoya was supposed to know what to do with it._

 _He obviously had no clue, as he raised his eyebrow and briefly glanced at her over the top of his notebook._

 _She sighed and began to explain. "Take it. Put it towards Haruhi's debt."_

 _He glanced at her again. "But didn't people give you that money for your birthday?"_

 _"So?"_

 _He raised the eyebrow further up his forehead before extending an arm and taking the money, slipping into his pocket and moving back to a table where his laptop lay._

 _"I'm assuming you don't want me to tell Haruhi about this?" He said, abandoning his notebook and beginning to tap at the keys on his keyboard._

 _"Mm hmm." She replied simply before walking past him and flopping down on one of the sofas. She picked up a book, and that was the end of their conversation._

 _I slid the door closed and turned back around, processing what I'd seen just in time for Hikaru to stroll down the hallway with Haruhi._

 _Anyone else would have seen it as two friends walking down a hallway together. Kaoru was the only one who would have noticed the light blush on his twins' cheeks._

 **~Back to reality~**

I sighed. Now; the day had ended, and Hikaru, me and Marcie were sat (in that order) in that back of the limo heading home on the Tuesday.

She daydreamed out the window with her cheek resting on her palm which was supported by her elbow resting on the door.

The forests and road signs could be seen in the reflection of her bright blue eyes as we sped past the scenery.

"What's with you today? You don't even want to go anywhere for dinner?" Hikaru suggested, watching her.

"You didn't even open your presents!" He continued.

"I _am_ going somewhere, and _that's_ where I open my presents." She replied, not breaking eye contact with the clouds that rested on the horizon on the other side of the glass.

"Where?" Hikaru demanded.

"Just..." she paused, debating on how to answer. "Visiting someone."

Hikaru didn't seem satisfied, but settled down anyway, realising that that was as good as he would get.

"Want is to drive your there, at least?" I asked. It is her birthday, she might want to go visit her family. She smiled at me gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks."

The chauffeur turned around in his seat. "Where to then, miss?" He asked.

Hikaru sipped his drink which had been provided by the coffee machine opposite our seats.

"Graveyard, please." She replied.

Hikaru choked on his drink.

"Why do you need to go _there?!"_ He asked. Its kinda obvious...

"I told you, I'm visiting someone." She said, and I saw realization dawn over Hikaru's features as the chauffeur made a left turn towards a street with tons of posh houses.

Hikaru huffed in defeat as we made a right and stopped in front of a graveyard.

She said her goodbyes and promised to be back by 6 before heaving the two black bags out from the boot of the car and walking through the gate.

"Wonder who died..." Hikaru said, bluntly. He's never been the type to recognise the emotions of others.

Then there was a small buzz from my phone which sat in my blazor pocket.

It was a text from Marcie.

 **Marcelline:** u can tell him about her if u want. I kno he's probably curious.

I thought about my reply carefully.

 **Kaoru:** sure u don't mind?

 **Marcelline:** sure

"What was all that about?" Hikaru huffed again as the car started back up and drove us home.

"She's visiting her sister, I think." I replied, after a moment of silence.

"What's her sister doing waiting around in a graveyard?" He asked.

"Resting." I replied, using air quotations.

Again, realization overtook his features and the guilt settled in. "Oh..."

By the time we arrived home, I had told him everything she had told me. I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders; it always made me feel guilty to know about something that Hikaru didn't.

 _Marcie POV_

It took me a few minutes to find Michelle's grave, still engraved with the small messages written in chalk from when I was a child. Emptying the contents into a small pike in front of me, I flopped down on the floor in front of her gravestone and began to open my presents.

Even if she wasn't physically there to open the presents with me, I still refuse to break our promise. ' _Promise you'll never open your presents without me? That you'll always wait for me to come back?'_. That's what she had said. That's what I do.

I rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes.

"Yeah we livSince Ididnt have too many friends outside of the hostclub, no one else knew me very well, so I mostly got things like clothes, books and cards.

The host club themselves were the only ones who's gifts were truly thoughtful.

Like Haruhi's; she got me an enlarged and framed version of a really cute picture that the eight of us had all taken together in silly poses.

And like Kyoya, who promised to cut Haruhi's debt by a fifth. Tamaki however, gave me what must have been a lifetime supply of roses, all in different colours that represented each host.

The tweeds got me clothes that they had designed themselves, claiming that I would look cute in them. One article of clothing was my favourite, a tie-dye, orange, knee-length sundress with a thin brown belt across the middle elastic. There were also a pair of shoes that were such a light shade of blue that they could be easily mistaken for white.

I sat quietly infront of my sister's grave. The first time I had seen it was when I was 10, and I was immediately outraged to see that the only thing my step-father had bothered to engrave into it was: 'will be missed.' That's when I first took up the habit of writing small messages and doodles on her gravestone in chalk.

'Loving sister', 'Rest In Peace', 'I love you', 'I miss you', etc.

My favourite one was on the back. Instead of writing more of my own sappy sentimental words, I had written her last words to me in large swirly writing.

'The days I spent with you were my happiest. Thank you.'

I had been told many times that day that everything would be alright, and that I would eventually 'get over it'. But the reality is, I will grieve forever. I will never 'get over' the loss of my loved ones; but I would learn to live with it. I will heal, and I will rebuild myself around the losses I have suffered. I'll be whole again, but I'll never be the same again. Nor should I be the same and nor do I want to.

I want the memories of our childhood to forever linger in my mind and have me smiling like an idiot for hours on end as the continuous movies play on repeat in the small, private theatre of my mind.

I had promised to be back at the Hitachiin mansion by 6, but since it was late in the winter months, it got dark quickly; and soon enough the sun began to set. Casting streaks of pink and crimson across the skies and colouring my surrounding with a warm orange glow.

As I reached the gate, Haruhi approached. "Hey." She greeted me with a smile. In her hands were a few shopping bags, so assumed she was on her way home from the supermarket and figured that I would probably be here.

"Add any new messages to the gravestone this year?" She asked, walking over and sitting beside me on the floor. She watched my expression carefully; searching it for any signs of sadness.

"Nope. Just some doodles. Although the one on the back had faded a bit so I went over that again." I replied.

She nodded. We sat quietly together for a minute before she shuffled forward slightly to point at one of the messages; 'Yeah we do, yeah we do.'

"Itsn't that from the lullaby?" She asked. "The one your Mum sang?"

"Yeah." She used to sing it to three of us whenever Haruhi came over for a sleepover. It was Michelle's favourite one.

"It's been ages since I heard that. I've almost forgotten how it goes." She said. I glanced over at her to see a soft, smile.

I felt my own features stretch into a similar expression before I took a small breath.

" _Bones sinking like stones_

 _all that we fall for_ ,"

She turned to smile at me before joining in.

 _"Homes, places we've grown_

 _all of us are done for."_

I rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes. Haruhi picked up the chalk and I heard her write something while we sang.

" _Oh we live in a beautiful world._

 _yeah we do, yeah we do_ "

I opened one eye slightly when I heard her put the chalk back down. 'Thanks for the memories -Haruhi'.

" _Yeah we live in a beautiful world._

 _yeah we do, yeah it's true_."

There was a moments silence before she raised a suggestive eyebrow and gently poked me in the ribs. "So...about those three boys who visited you at the host club today." She began before pausing, as if she expected me to clarify/admit to something.

"...what about them?" I asked, cautiously.

"I bet they all have huge crushes on y-!" I interrupted her before she could finish her embarrassing statement.

"It's getting late! I should head back." I hurriedly stood up and shoved all my presents into one of the black bags.

She laughed and picked up her shopping bags. "You're such a dork!"

"Yeah, well;" I held my hand out to her and pulled her to her feet when she took it. "Jokes on you. You're friends with a dork." I smiled smuggle as we walked back to the main street together.

* * *

 _Only the fuel of a passionate heart_

 _keeps this body strong and moving forward_

* * *

 **Yaaaaaayy. Next chapter is in progress so it shouldn't take too long to finish and upload. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you have any suggestions/ideas on what other non-plot chapters you'd like to see! Byeeee**


	8. (8) Attack of The Lady Manager!

**Yo. Can I just say aosidjejkedjdnekdn. I'm so excited. I have a ton of ideas for this chapter (or the next one considering how I play it out). I guess I'm most excited for the Karuizawa arc though. And no I'm not gonna be cliche and say the Marcie went on the date instead of Haruhi cuz I got my own plans in mind. And I've already been way too cliche. I wanna start being original. Also, since the last chapter was shorter than normal, I'll try and make this one a bit longer. Enjoy ^_^**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Attack of The Lady Manager!**

 _Haruhi POV_

As Marcie and I walked down the path out of the graveyard, I took a small, last glance over my shoulder at Michelle. I re-read the original engravings.

 _Michelle Haninozuka_

 _2nd Feb, 2002 - 5th May, 2007_

 _Lost At Sea_

 _Will be missed_

We walked down the street together before parting ways and going to our separate homes, wishing each other a good night and promising to see each other again tomorrow.

* * *

The next day's lessons went by quickly, but Marcie got a few more presents and cards from people who had no idea that it was her birthday yesterday.

The same three boys as yesterday had come to visit her again with some male and female friends. After a couple minutes of debate, Kyoya decided to allow it since it would help bring in more money for the club. So basically, she's a host now. I guess it was bound to happen eventually; but I didn't think it would be as calm as that.

I don't think there's been a _girl_ host before. What do you even call a girl host? Is it just 'girl host' or 'hostess'.

I'm happy for her, none the less. I know how much she hated having to be an errand girl since it meant having to witness all the hosts' acts. Especially when the twins forced her to join in with theirs. The amount of picture books...

She seems to be doing okay so far, but it's a little awkward, as if she's still not quite sure on what to say. Her guests think it's cute, it she's still worries; so today we're trying a joint session where her guests and my guests sit on one sofa while Marcie and I sit on the opposite one. It's quite nice actually, and we were just having a normal concversation. Well, as normal as a conversation can be between two hosts and six guests.

Tamaki is annoyed though because he still has to think of a 'type' for her to be. Like how he's the Princely type and Honey is the Lolita. I'm guessing that since he's struggling so much, her type will end up being either stupid or unfitting. Like 'model' or 'nerd'. The model part is her job, so I don't think that counts and then nerd part is plain wrong. Completely opposite.

I personally would suggest mischievous, but that's taken by the twins. What can I say, it fits them perfectly.

After a while, two of our customers (one of Marcie's and one of mine) remembered that they had homework (they were in the same class) so they and their friends left for the library. Honestly, how can you _forget_ you have homework. It's like these rich snobs only come to school for a good time.

Marcie reluctantly sought out her cart of stuff (napkins, teacups, teapots, etc.) and the two of us walked around together while refilling the guests tea and things like that.

Today's theme was traditional Japanese, so of course we had been forced into kimonos.

Mine was a lilac colour with pink Sakura print and a white clip in my hair. The sleeves were too long so they hung over my hands rather loosely. I'd had a few comments on how I looked 'almost like a girl' which made Marcie laugh; I had to jab her in the ribs a couple times before she calmed down.

Her's was a white one with red Sakura print and two black clips which held her hair into two side braid buns on each side of her head*.

The twins were in identical kimonos with a light and dark blue stripy pattern with orange, yellow and red flowers printed around the top in threes. They were loose at the top which exposed a bit of their chests.

Tamaki's kimono did the same, but his was a shiny golden colour. He and the twins were all wearing fake ponytails, and his was tied with a loose purple string that was tied into a small bow.

Honey was in a light red kimono with yellow flowers. I don't even care if I sound creepy; he looks so cute. Marcie must be melting.

Mori was in a dark blue kimono with a thin dark red obijime and Kyoya's kimono was a dark brown colour with light brown floral patterns.

There were tatami's and kotatsu's laying around the club room along with other traditional Japanese decorations.

I noticed that since my other guests left, my next appointment was moved forward. "Sorry Marcie, I have guests." I told her, she huffed and took the tray of tea cups off of me.

"Whaaaat? You can't leave me to be a waitress for these psychos!" She joked. I apologised again and gave her a quick hug from behind (for the guests and for the puppy eyes she gave me) before walking back to my table.

 _Marcie POV_

After Haruhi left, I began with Tamaki's table. Why? Because I like getting the worst out of the way as soon as possible. Like in an exam, or a packet of skittles.

His three guests were on the edge of the sofa with their hands in fists up by their hearts.

"Tamaki-sama, oh my dearest Tamaki-sama, why are you so beautiful?" One asked.

"So that I may catch your eye, even if just for one second." He replied, dramatically flipping his hair.

"Why is your voice so very sweet and mellow?" Another asked. What's 'mellow'?

"To set your nerves at ease, so that my true feelings may reach your heart." He replied, stroking her hand slightly.

"Why are your eyes filled with tears whenever you look at me?" The third asked. Are they?

"Because he sight of your beautiful smile causes the fountain inside me to start overflowing!" He cried.

No, literally. He was crying as he said that.

"Geez. These guys have an answer for everything, huh?" I mumbled as I finished refilling everyone's tea before walking over to the tweeds.

"I think it's adorable that you're wearing matching kimonos!" A guest piped up as I arrived.

"Our mother designed everything the hosts are wearing today. We needed to design kimonos anyway since Marcie needed to wear one for the cover of a magazine." Hikaru informed.

"Wow, really?" one of the guests asked me. I turned to smile at her.

"Yeah! if you see anything you like, I don't mind taking an order for you." I told her as I replaced a chipped teacup.

"Thank you!" She replied. "The twins were just saying about how their grandmother visited yesterday; did you get to meet her?"

Before I could reply, another girl spoke up. "Why would she?" She didn't seem to happy about whether or not I got to meet their grandmother. What? Her name is Ijime Kurishe**, according to the student ID that I then decided not to tell her that she had dropped.

"Because she lives with them, of course." The other guest replied.

"What?!" The girl snapped, whipping her head around to glare at me. Yep. Looks like you're gonna be missing an ID soon.

"This commoner? How awful! I wouldn't be able to hear it if a commoner lived in _my_ house." She said, chuckling in a 'ha ha, be offended' way.

I bit my tongue to avoid saying something in a 'I'm gonna fucking kill you' way.

Haruhi says I need to learn to hold my tongue instead of being sassy when someone annoys me. It's difficult, but I'm trying.

Instead, I answered the previous guests question and ignored Ijime. "I did meet their grandmother, actually. She's lovely; she showed me how to do my hair like this!" I explained enthusiastically as I gestured to my adorable braid buns. It's true, the old woman was kind, mature, funny and sweet. When she was first introduced to me, she was very polite and seemed generally interested in getting to know me.

"She helped us put on our kimonos, too." Kaoru added; only to have Hikaru gently grab him with one hand by the jaw and tilt their heads together so that their foreheads were almost touching.

"But you know Kaoru, the only who'll be _un_ dressing you is me..." Hikaru whispered.

Kaoru moved his head slightly to let the guests see the small tears forming in his eyes. "H-Hikaru! You're embarrassing me infront of everybody..." he whispered back quietly.

You'd think I'd be used to this by now.

"Oh! What a tender embrace!" The fangirls squealed in unison.

I sighed, disappointed in what this world has come to. Then I walked over to Haruhi's table where Kyoya stood.

"Haruhi, you look so cute in your kimono!" Azumi complimented.

"Yeah! Almost like a girl!" Another guest added, nodding in agreement.

I couldn't help it; I started laughing. This was the second time someone had said it. Haruhi glared and jabbed me in the ribs again.

Kyoya spoke from where he stood on my left. "Haruhi, you've booked another appointment. It seems you've had a pretty steady flow of new customers lately.  
Keep up the good work." He glanced up at her from over the top of his notebook.  
"I'm not going to charge you interest on your debt like I normally would. So keep this up, and you should be able to pay it off, although the rental fee on yours and Marcelline's kimonos are nothing to sneeze at." He concluded before walking away.

Why would we sneeze on them? I don't have a cold or anything...

"He's like some kind of heartless tax collector." Haruhi whispered, and I giggled as I walked away to Honey's table.

I passed by where Kyoya was sitting at his own table with two guests of his own. Personally, I didn't know if he even hosted; just collected and calculated.

"Kyoya-senpai, I can't get over how good you look in that kimono. Are you planning on selling anymore picture books of the host club?" One asked. Flattery will get you no where with this guy; sorry.

"Unfortunately; we don't have anything planned at the present, ladies." He replied politely; not bothering to look over his laptop screen. Wasn't he using a notebook just now though?

"But doesn't the club make a lot of extra money-?"

"-from the sale of promotional items?" voices asked as two arms were draped over my shoulders all of a sudden, almost making me drop the tea set. Seriously, where the fuck did they come from?! I swear; one of these days I'm gonna end up with a heart attack.

They have been less insistant recently though, and seem to be respecting my personal space a it more. I think it's out of pity for what happened yesterday with my birthday and whatnot***.

Kyoya stopped writing in his note book (it keeps switching!) to push up his glasses with the two fingers on the hand holding the pen. I have to wonder; what is he writing in there? For all I know, that could be the death note. He could be Kira****.

"That's true, but all the items are poor quality. Those picture books were filled with nothing but amateur hidden camera shots; however if we want to create high-quality money-making products, I'm afraid we would have to draw money from the school's budget." He replied, shuffling through some blurry photos of the hosts and one or two of me.

After deciding that this conversation was going no where, I strolled back to Haruhi who was just waving good bye to her last appointments for the day.

I had just poured her some tea when Honey-senpai ran over with tears in his eyes. "Haru-chan! Marcie-chan!" He called, clinging to my sleeve.

"What's wrong you cute lil' muffin, you?" I asked, crouching down to his level. He smiled slightly at my attempt to cheer him up before going back to his original state.

"I don't know how, but I lost one of my sandals!" He cried. Again, no no no; he literally cried. And there goes my weakness for cute things. Bye-bye, common sense!

I panicked and picked him up in a hug after hurriedly setting down my tea set. "Don't worry, senpai. We'll help you look!" I reassured him as Haruhi and I begun to walk over to the lolita's table. Maybe it fell off while he was over there with his guests? Speaking of which, they were still there. Are the hosts really just aloud to get up and leave the guests like that? It's kinda mean...

The three guests smiled and squealed at the sight of me carrying the small third-year, and we got more comments of how we look either 'related', 'so cute!' Or 'KYAAAAAA!'

"Where did you last have it, senpai?" Haruhi asked, being logical as always.

Then Mori-appeared (I've lost count on how many times they've all used their special host abilities. Around 50 maybe?) holding a small sandal.

"Here." He deadpanned. I turned slightly so that the 'strong-silent type' could slip the sandal onto Honey's foot.

"Takashi?" He asked, looking at his cousin with teary eyes.

"I noticed that you dropped it." Mori replied. That's gotta be the longest sentence he's ever said. Although I've heard him hum in thought for a moment before. It was surprisingly amusing.

"Takashi!" Honey exclaimed as he leapt from my arms into his cousin's for an adorable and teary-eyed embrace. The fangirls squealed in delight whereas Mori stood completely still with his arms round the Lolita before assisting him in sittting on his shoulders.

Honey then twisted around to wave at me. "Thanks for carrying me over, Marcie-chan!" He said as Mori patted my head once with a 'yeah, thanks' before they went back to their patient guests.

"Looks like tears are popular with the ladies today." Haruhi theorised from my left as we began walking back to her table.

"Yeah, I just don't understand how they can cry so easily..." I replied, nodding my head in agreement before she bumped into Kaoru.

"Sorry!" She said, straightening her posture before eyeing up a small bottle on the floor.

"You guys okay?" I laughed at her clumsiness, glancing between them as Hikaru walked over. What? I'm normally the clumsy one, it's nice to see someone else do it for a change.

"Yeah." Kaoru replied simply with a shrug.

"Yeah I'm okay." Haruhi said before picking up the bottle, looking at the name on the sticker, raising an eyebrow and holding it up to Kaoru.

"What's this?" She asked. I raised my own eyebrow. I dunno, I can't see it.

"For your information, it's common for a host to use eye drops." Hikaru said, taking the small green bottle and passing it back to his brother who slid it up his sleeve. Weirdos. Eye-drop using weirdos.

"No woman alive can resist a man on the brink of tears." Kaoru added, nodding in agreement.

"Wanna bet?" I asked, sarcastically which caused Haruhi to jab me in the ribs for a third time.

"That's cheating." She deadpanned.

"Oh come on, don't be such a party pooper!" Hikaru said as Kaoru gave him a small box with a weird type of pink sweet inside. Hikaru looked down at the box, over to Kaoru and back again with a face that said 'aaaaand what the fuck am I supposed to do with this'. Kaoru sighed and glanced meaningfully back at Haruhi which caused a look of realisation to overtake the older twins features.

"Here! This is for you." Hikaru said enthusiastically as he dropped the small box into Haruhi's hands.

"For me?" She asked, staring at it. She's such an innocent lil' dork. How did someone so innocent ever become my friend, let alone my _best_ friend.

" **Aren't you the cutest**?" The tweeds chorused, and I couldn't help joining in with them. Yes, she is cute. That's probably why she's my friend actually, because she's cute and she knows about my weakness.

Dun dun duuuun. Plot twist*****.

"You have one too, Marcie." Kaoru said as he threw one to me which I caught. I'm getting better at catching things recently. Mostly due to the tweeds randomly throwing things at me to see me either drop, dodge or catch them like a spastic******.

"Thanks." I said, triumphantly as Haruhi continued to stare at the sweet.

"I didn't know the two of you like sweets." Azumi said, and I smiled at her.

"Of course I do! But Haruhi doesn't, right?" I replied, glancing to said brunette as I did so.

"I guess the odd sweet here and then isnt too bad, but I think this would make a nice memorial offering for my mother." She replied before smiling sadly down at the little box. I know that look. I've seen it before, every time I look in the mirror.

I patted her on the back in sympathy; not unlike how she had done the same for us once, a long time ago. For Michelle and I. **There would have been a flashback scene here but this chapter is dragging out way too long. It wasn't going to be anything important, anyway. I can always slip it in somewhere else.**

"How admirable of you, Haruhi!" Tamaki declared, rudely shoving me aside to drape his arms around my best friend. "Such devotion to your mother's memory! Please Haruhi, take as many as you like!" He cried. For a third time; no no no. _Literally_ cried.

He did this while adding about 8 more of the small boxes of sweets onto the puke in her hands. She didn't look too happy.

"Lemme guess, the tears are fake, right?" Haruhi questioned as she swatted away Tamaki's hands before he could attempt to caress her face again.

Said blonde was struck by some random lightning before banishing himself to his emo-corner. Ya know, the usual. "How could you?" He mumbled, depressed.

He then quickly emerged to grab Haruhi's hands together and yell. "My tears are always genuine, Haruhi! To be able to cry without the use of eye-drops is the mark of a true host." He desperately defended himself.

His features then softened, as did his grip on her hands as he dramatically in flipped his hair. "Tell me. Do I impress you? Have you fallen for me yet?"

Pssh. As if.

"You wish." Haruhi retorted, yanking her hands completely out of his grip and dumping the sweets into her school bag. There were so many that she had to eat one or two and give a handful to me in order to make them fit.

I wonder how many more he would have given her if she hadn't stopped him. Probably the same amount as however many more times the hosts had used their abilities.

The Tweeds reappeared suddenly and whipped out their coloured roses (light blue for Hikaru, orange for Kaoru) and said " **It seems the host club has a brand new guest~** " before disappearing and reappearing in front of the double doors of the host club. There stood a girl with light brown hair and a large pink bow. She had a fist up to her mouth in hesitation and was wearing the Ouran girls uniform.

 _I don't think I've seen her before...is she new?_

* * *

 _Could it be I've found a place to rest?_

 _How far until I'm okay?_

* * *

 **Hope your enjoyed :3**

 **thanks for all the support! Lucy Apocalypse said that the last chapter was a bit depressing, and I know the beginning of this chapter still kinda was too but I tried to make the rest of it more uplifting ^ - ^**

 **I'm sorry for ending this chapter so suddenly, I just feel like it was dragging on for ages.**

* * *

*I know there are a lot of different types of braid buns so just google 'traditional Japanese braid buns' on google images and it should be the first picture of the girl in the pink kimono. If not then just imagine them however you wanna, idk.

**pronounced eejeemay koreeshay. I probably just confused you more but hey, I tried. Try typing 'Kurishe Ijime' into google translate and you'll probably be able to guess what I have planned for this character. You will hate me for this terrible joke but I'm proud of it.

***I never normally say 'whatnot' and I never will ever again. Cringey.

****Sorry, I'm going through a death note phase at the moment :P

*****Welp, there goes another 4th wall. And I apologise for all these star P.S thingies, I don't know what they're called. I never normally use this many but I guess brackets aren't good enough. \\(^-^)/

******Was that offensive? I'm sorry if that was offensive. Also I'mma try and make this the last star P.S thingy since there are six of them now. Like, damn.


	9. (9) Happy Valentines Day!

**I'm a terrible writer, so I fell behind on my self-given schedule and ended up having to merge the 9th chapter and the Valentines chapter together. Sorry if it's not what you wanted/was expecting but I tried.**

 **Also, YAAAAAY! This is the longest chapter I've written so far ^_^**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Attack of The Lady Manager/Happy Valentines Day!**

As the tweeds appeared in front of her, she stepped back in slight alarm, but didn't leave.

"Come on in, what are you waiting for~" (Kaoru)

"Watching from afar is no fun~" (Hikaru)

They said, one hand holding out their roses while the other rested over their hearts as they both hunched over slightly in a small bow.

Haruhi nudged me gently as indication that I should stand on my toes so she can whisper in my ear. I wouldn't have to normally, but I'd misplaced my regular school shoes. They were specially made (a welcome gift from Yuzuha on around my third day of living with the Hitachiins) with subtle platforms to make me appear taller. Now I wore the normal Mary Janes I had worn on my first day at Ouran, so now I was back to my original short self. And it sucked. If I had a 5 yen coin for every time someone has told me I'm short (as if I didn't already know) then I could probably pay off Haruhi's debt in less than three days. Plus interest.

"Aren't they scaring her?" Haruhi whispered as Tamaki lectured the twins about being gentlemanly before whipping out his own pale green rose and holding it out to the girl.

"Probably. But there's not much we can do." I replied.

"Please, you don't have to be afraid. I welcome you to the Ouran Host club; what's your name, princess?" He said in his 'special host voice' which I think should count as a host ability.

The girl opened her mouth slightly to reply, but she still seemed hesitant. Don't do it! Run away while you still can!

Tamaki then went to stroke her hand, as if to coax a name out of her. "Yes?" He said, encouragingly (is that a word?).

"No! Don't touch me! You're a PHONY!" She suddenly yelled, slapping his hand away.

Tamaki leapt back to where we had all walked forward a few steps to the doorway. "What do you mean I'm phony?" Tamaki stammered, clearly shocked and offended.

"Just what I said, you're PHONY! I find it hard to believe that someone like you is the prince character of this host club!" She yelled again.

"Talk about double personalities." I whispered to Haruhi (I was standing on my toes again). She giggled quietly before nudging me so that I lost my balance on my toes and stumbled forward.

Mori-Senpai caught me by the collar of my blazer and pulled me back to my feet before parting my head and lifting Honey-Sendai onto his shoulders.

"You shouldn't go spreading your love so easily, you STUPID!" She continued her yelling while pointing a finger at Tamaki who looked absolutely horrified.

"You must be a dim-witted NARCISSIST!" (What's a narcissist?)

"You're incompetent! A commoner! You're disgusting!" She concluded as multiple arrows stabbed Tamaki in multiple places on his torso, each arrow complete with an insult the girl had used.

Haruhi bent down to my level as we both sweat dropped. "Did she use 'commoner' as an insult?" She asked. I nodded.

"And he took it as an insult." I replied, sighing.

These damn rich people.

"Wow! He's created a new technique!" Hikaru suddenly exclaimed in awe.

"One man slow motion." Kaoru nodded in agreement, matching his brothers amazement as Tamaki floated slowly to the floor in a poof of dust*.

Kyoya spoke up from my left. "I don't suppose you are..." he trailed off as the girls expression changed from extremely pissed off to utterly smitten, complete with small tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"It's you! Kyoya!" She exclaimed in delight as she ran forward. "Oh, how I lined to meet you; my one and only Prince Charming!" She used Tamaki's seemingly deflated corpse as a springboard to launch herself at the Host club's stunned vice-president.

Haruhi, the tweeds, Mori, Honey and I just stared in bewilderment. "What?"

A few minutes after all the other guests had left, we had the girl sitting on a sofa with some tea. On the sofa opposite was (from her POV) Kaoru on the very right, Hikaru next to him, Kyoya in the middle, then Haruhi, and then me on the arm of the sofa. I had my arm around her shoulder to keep me balanced and I could see the girl opposite eyeing us up curiously. "I bet she's wondering if we're dating." Haruhi whispered.

"To be honest, I don't care anymore. Sitting here is the one time I'll be taller than you." I teased. She smiled and surpressed a laugh as we started paying attention to the conversation the others were having.

Hopefully we didn't miss anything too important. "Your fiancée?" Hikaru asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Nope. Definitely missed something important.

"Kyoya-senpai?" Kaoru asked, mirroring his brothers actions.

The girl smiled and pointed at herself. "Of course! My name is Renge Hoshakuji* and I'm transferring into Ouran's first year class A tomorrow."

Tamaki let out a 'hmph' as he continued to sulk in his emo-corner. "Why is he sulking?" Hikaru asked in a 'for-god's-sake-what-now' tone.

Kaoru answered him in a smug, teasing tone. "Because Mummy** was keeping a secret from Daddy."

"Oh whatever. Why does everyone insist on referring to us as if we're husband and wife?" Kyoya asked no one in particular as Renge continued to babble on about him.

"Oh, this is a story of love at first sight! I couldn't resist the way you were adoring those flowers in the garden when you thought no one was looking! And how sweet it was when you reached out to that poor little injured kitten!"

"Is she for real?" I asked, sceptically as the girl continued to hold her cheeks as she gushed about her wonderful fiancée.

By the end of the day, I felt completely drained. I bid goodbye to the tweeds, since Haruhi had asked if I'd like to come over since her dad was out. We walked out of the gates together and both sighed; happy to be out of the room.

"Having Tamaki as the club's president is hard enough, but I have a feeling that having that Renge girl as the 'manager' is gonna kill me." I whined.

"Well at least we have our first cooking lesson tomorrow. The other classes have already started there's apparently, and they say it's pretty fun." Haruhi reassured.

"I didn't know rich kids still had cooking lessons." I mused as we stopped at a crossing where the light was green.

"Well yeah, why would it be different for them just because they're ri-" Haruhi began. I interrupted her by making a 'nu-nu-nu-nu-NO!' sound and wagging a finger in her face.

"Don't finish that sentence! Last time someone said that there were fifty doctors and nurses with silk curtains and red carpets." I told her, remembering the physical exams from my first few days at the school. The light went red and we crossed the road holding up our hands in thanks to the grumpy dude in the red ford-fiesta with the matching face for not running us over despite it being obvious that he wanted to.

* * *

 _Third person POV (next day)_

 _And there goes the alarm, ringing in my head._

 _L_ _ike somebody said "don't you trust him, no"_

 _Text in from his ex, what did you expect?_

 _N_ _ow you're lying here, knowing where he goes._

 _Now he gotta getcha', karma is a bi-_

"Ugh…" Haruhi lifted her hand and swatted at the nightstand, searching for the device that had dared disturb her slumber. However, it wasn't until the chorus had looped twice that she was able to scoop up the clock and smack the top button, effectively cutting off the alarm.

Seven A.M. Time to get up.

Wriggling herself out from under her sheets, Haruhi stood up and padded over to her wardrobe after gently throwing the small black digital clock back down on the nightstand. It wasn't until she was standing at her bedroom door that she realized that she could smell something...good?

Realising what this meant, she clumsily dashed back to the wardrobe and yanked her uniform off of its hanger and eagerly (too eagerly) put it on.

She opened her bedroom door and stumbled out into the kitchen, one of her feet stuck just before the opening at the bottom of the part of her trouser leg. Since she didn't have either her contacts in or her glasses on, everything was a big blur, but she could at least see someone moving around the kitchen with a big stack of pancakes piled high on the small dinner table. She could hear her father's light snores from his bedroom down the hall. Seriously, that man slept as if he hadn't for years.

"I know you're there, Haruhi. Go finish getting ready for school before you stuff your chubby hamster cheeks." Marcie called from the stove where she still made more pancakes.

Haruhi attempted to answer, but a huge yawn escaped instead, so she wandered back to the bathroom to take in her (probably terrible) appearance.

After panicking for a moment about her reflection being a messy blob, she remembered that she had yet to put her contact lenses in. After doing so, she internally laughed at herself. One leg caught in the trouser leg, shirt half untucked, blazer inside out, collar up, tie wonky and unbrushed hair sticking up on one side in a cow lick.

Wow.

"What's taking you so long in there?" Marcie called. And after a short pause "Are you laughing about your cow lick? Cuz...I was so close to exploding but I didn't wanna wake your dad up." She continued with a small chuckle.

"Oh ha ha." The brunette replied sarcastically, though both girls knew she was smiling.

After fixing her hair and uniform, Haruhi emerged from the bathroom and happily sat down at the kitchen table. Her blonde friend, who had temporarily abandoned her own blazer for a violet 'kiss kiss fall in love with the cook' apron (which belonged to Haruhi's father, of course) set down a massive plate of approximately 12 pancakes down in the middle of the table before giving Haruhi and herself a plate and sitting down with the chocolate sauce, sugar and maple syrup.

The two girls ate the pancakes between them and paused at the door, both realising the same thing. They were late, so it was already decided that they would ride their bikes to school. But there was only one bike.

"We could always share?" Haruhi suggested, smiling mischievously.

"What, like in middle school?" Marcie asked, mirroring her friend's smile and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah!"

* * *

Tamaki had arrived on time for once, and decided to wait at the school's main entrance by the bike racks for his beloved Haruhi.

He wasn't sure why the school even had bike racks; it's not like any of the wealthy students of Ouran academy would ever consider cycling there when they could simply take a limo.

All of the students still waiting outside on the school grounds suddenly turned to watch as two people on bikes pedalled through the school gates at top speed.

The chairman's son allowed his mouth to fall open as he recognised the cyclers to be none other than the host club's female members.

Tamaki straightened up as the two girls moved closer. But it wasn't until they were halfway between the gates and the bike racks that he noticed something even stranger. There was only one bike. Marcie was on the seat, smoothly pedaling her and her childhood friend down the stone pathway, but Haruhi was standing up behind her with her arms wrapped around Marcie's shoulders.

There was no second seat. There were just two bars sticking out from the bike frame near the center of the back tire where Haruhi's feet were planted. The sight of it almost gave Tamaki a heart attack if it wasn't for Haruhi grinning from ear to ear with both girls laughing psychotically as the wind blew at their hair.

The girls zipped along the path. As they drew closer to the bike rack, Marcelline stopped pedaling; but she didn't brake.

"Ready, Haruhi?"

"Hell yeah!"

"3, 2, 1!"

When they reached '1', the blonde sharply jerked the handlebars to the left, riding alongside the bike racks as Haruhi let go of the Marcie's shoulders, jumping off of the bike. She stumbled an inch or two when her feet hit the ground, but other than that it was a smooth landing. Haruhi removed her helmet and ran her fingers through her short brown hair.

"Hey, Senpai." She said, casually. Ya know, as if she hadn't just jumped off anime that had been going probably around at least 30 mph.

"J-j-j...j-j-j… juST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Tamaki yelled, grabbing the paper bag supplied by Kyoya (who had appeared sometime during that whole charade) and hyperventilating into it for a couple minutes before screwing it up into his hand and throwing it behind him over his shoulder.

Haruhi patted her school bag which had been fastened securely to her side, "I'm not sure why you're shouting, Senpai. I just let my friend ride my bike to school. It's no big deal-"

"YES IT'S A BIG DEAL! HOW COULD YOU BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE! THAT WAS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS, WHY DIDN'T MARCELLINE STAND ON THE BACK?"

"She can't stand on the back because she's too short. She still can't find her special shoes. And besides, we did that that all the time in middle school. No need to _shout_ about it, senpai."

Tamaki's head jerked back, "All…the time..?"

The poor blonde boy was trembling from head to toe as Marcelline pedalled back. She climbed off the bike and wheeled it onto the rack with one hand while she unhooked her own helmet with the other. Haruhi fastened her helmet onto the right handlebar while her friend chained up the bike. It was painted blue with a white basket on the front.

"Maybe we should've practiced the dismount a couple times before we headed here, Marcie. I stumbled a tiny bit."

Marcie chucked her own helmet into the basket, "Yeah, I was thinking that too. The bike shook like hell when you jumped off. Oh well, I suppose that counts as practice."

The girls grinned at each other and threw an arm around eachother's shoulders, "Let's go kick everyone's asses at cooking."

They walked up the steps, but Kyoya and Tamaki lagged behind. Tamaki was about fifteen seconds away from hyperventilating again while Kyoya simply stared off after them. A few seconds later the twins ran up.

"Tono! Did you see that?" (Hikaru)

"That was so cool! I didn't know they had it in them!" (Kaoru)

And with that, Tamaki retreated to a make-shift emo corner where he hugged his knees and rocked back and forth on the cement. "My precious daughter… how could they…?"

Kyoya looked down at the blonde in disappointment." Quit being so overly dramatic, Tamaki."

Hikaru replied instead, saying that asking Tamaki to not be dramatic was like asking a dancer to remove their legs***.

"Tama-chan! Why are you crying?" Honey and Mori appeared at the side of the group, having just missed the girls random stunt.

"Good morning, Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai." Kaoru said, politely; living up to his nickname of the 'nicer twin'.

"You're not going to believe what Marcie and Haruhi just did!" Hikaru said excitedly before reciting the event to the third years as the six hosts walked inside the building.

* * *

 _Haruhi POV_

Who would have guessed that rich kids need to learn how to cook? But, this was the first cooking class of the term so I'm expecting them all to be pretty terrible.

It was four to a station, so of course Hikaru, Kaoru, Marcie and I all went for the same one at the back by the window.

On the station next to ours were two of Marcie's male guests, one of my guests and one of the twin's guests. I only knew the names of the girls; my guest was Azumi (a regular) and the twins' guest was Ijime Kurishe, I think.

Then on the station in front of us was a combination of girls that I recognised from the host club, one of which being Renge.

We were then given the recipe and left to get on with it.

 _Marcie POV_

"We're making cakes?" I asked excitedly, eyeing up the sheet that had our recipe.

"No. Clearly these are instructions on how to perform heart surgery." Hikaru replied sarcastically.

"Check it out though, there's a ton of different designs..." Haruhi said, pointing to a small list in the top left corner of the sheet.

"I'm gonna do..." I began, dragging out the 'do' as I used my finger to scroll down each design. There were about six designs in total, and none of them really appealed to me until I got to "HOLY CHEESECAKE, I CAN MAKE FANCY CHEESECAKE?!" The whole room went silent and stared at me.

I was tempted to do that trick where you're all like 'I forgot something downstairs' and then walk back and forth behind a surface while you slowly bend your legs to make it look like you're going down a set of stairs.

But I didn't, because that would probably make things worse, so I turned to the rest of my group and said "I'm uh...I'm gonna make the cheese cake. What are you guys making?" I mumbled.

"Hmm..." Haruhi made a little humming noise as she scrolled down the list using her finger like I had. "Maybe if I split up the cake mixture I can make a small one of everything?" She though out loud to herself as everyone continued their work.

The tweeds chose one with a fancy name that I can't pronounce, but the picture looked pretty good.

The group of girls in front of us started giggling and fangirling more than usual.

"What's going on? I feel like the fangirls are more insane and giggly that usual." I voiced my thoughts.

"Oh, didn't you hear? I think some people are planning to give their cakes to the person they have a crush on." Haruhi informed

"Some people seem nervous; like it's Valentine's Day or something." Hikaru added.

"Wait, I didn't know that." Kaoru said, raising an eyebrow. Hikaru laughed at him which started up the brotherly love act; that (of course) got the attention of the fangirls in the room.

The teacher stood at the front of the room and told everyone to put on their aprons, and the girls with long hair had to tie it up.

It takes me forever to do my hair on my own, so Haruhi did it for me. We got our fair share of squeals, envious glares and glances for that.

She put my hair into two high bunches, much to my fanboys delight. Not to brag, but I guess I did look pretty cute with my hair like that and in a white apron with vertical red stripes.

 _Kaoru POV_

My mind was still lingering on what Haruhi and Hikaru had said about giving cakes to people's crushes...I found myself staring at Marcie. I'm not sure why, but I did feel a pang of something like jealousy when two guys from the station next to ours strolled over blushing and asking if she wanted to trade cakes with them.

That started an argument between the two on who would get her cake; but they were stopped by the blonde herself who told them that she was sorry, but had already planned on halving it with someone.

This calmed them down and they finally left.

'Planned on halving it with someone.' Who? Do I even have the right to know? Why should I know? Why do I want to know?

I think Hikaru sensed how I felt, because he was staring at me in what seemed like confusion, alarm maybe.

"Okay! Let's get started then." Haruhi said, getting out all the bowls and ingredients.

Hikaru blushed at her excitement. Honestly, he's such a dork. I think Marcie has realised his feelings too, and has been subtly hinting to him about what he could do about it.

Like when we took her to a theme park once and she found a box of pocky in a gift shop. "Awe, I haven't had this in forever! Haruhi loves this stuff." She had said, finishing her statement with a glance in Hikaru's direction.

When he blushed, looked away and did nothing, she just stared at him as if trying to repeat the message to him telepathically. 'HARUHI LOVES THIS STUFF' I laughed at her expression causing it to falter slightly; letting out a small, proud grin.

When Hikaru still did nothing, she huffed, pouted and picked up a box of the weird chocolate + biscuit stick things before saying "I'll buy it for her as a souvenir." She told me, slowly walking to the counter.

I laughed at her again while Hikaru sighed irritably; though there was still a blush on his cheeks.

He stormed over to Marcie and snatched the pocky from her grasp, stomping up to the counter and slamming the box with appropriate money on the surface.

"Alright, already. I'll buy your damn souvenir." He huffed, causing her to smile widely with her hands in fists on her hips in triumph.

It was a bad idea going to a theme park in a group of three, since it meant that (not all the time, but most of it) Marcie had to sit either on her own or next to a stranger. A stranger which, coincidentally enough, almost always turned out to be guy who almost always tried to flirt with her. Honestly, these commoners are so desperate. It's annoying. Though it was amusing to see the many ways in which she could reject them with a witty remark.

"Kaoru?" Said blonde was currently waving a hand in my face, saying my name as if she'd been doing so for a long period of time.

"Uh s-sorry," I replied sheepishly as she raised an eye brow. "He was thinking about when we went to a theme park and I bought Haruhi that pocky stuff." Hikaru informed, causing both girls to smile as they worked on our cakes. They had already put theirs in the oven, so (after seeing how terribly we were doing) they decided to help us with ours. Haruhi was doing Hikaru's because Marcie and I told her to, which left Marcie to do mine.

"I remember that! That was fun." Said blonde remarked, seemingly to no-one in particular.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way." Haruhi said as she turned to smile at Hikaru who immediately blushed and looked out the window in order to pretend that he hadn't been staring at her for the past five minutes when she wasn't looking. Totally not obvious bro, nobody notices at all.

Like I said, such a dork.

"N-no problem." He managed to say. The moment was short-lived, due to Renge's group screaming in terror at the tiny flame that had erupted from their oven. They managed to save a few of the cookies they'd made, but most of them were burned to ashes or too burnt to eat without breaking a tooth.

Needless to say, class A's first cooking class of the term was dismissed early.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and soon we were all seated in the third music room with the other hosts while Tamaki talked about how having Renge as a manager might not be that bad.

This was, according to him, because Hikaru, Marcie and I were 'shady' and therefore shouldn't be the only friends Haruhi has in class.

"Woah-woah-woah, hold on. I understand the tweeds being shady, but what did _I_ do?"

"Obviously, after your display with the bike this morning, you're a bad influence on Haruhi." Tamaki declared, pointing a finger at Marcie who shrank back in offense with her arms crossed firmly over her chest with a pout.

Then the door creaked open, and we all turned in our seats to see Renge walk in with a small lilac pull string bag. "Hi everyone! You'll be happy to know that you're new manager Renge had baked all of you some cookies!" She chirped as Tamaki practically leapt out of his chair to greet her at the door, saying how she was wonderful and ladylike.

"Aren't those the same cookies she set on fire this morning?" I whispered, so that only the ones on the same sofa as me (Hikaru, Haruhi, Marcie and me) could hear.

Hikaru laughed, Marcie giggled with a smile and Haruhi sweat dropped as they all nodded in agreement that, yes, those _are_ the cookies that had been aflame that same morning.

Next thing I knew, Renge was in front of Kyoya and holding out the cookies to him, which he took with an expression of distaste before passing on to Honey-senpai. "Sorry I burnt them a little bit, I did the best I could; and I already know what you're going to say!" She cried, not paying attention.

Honey opened the bag and eagerly munched on a cookie while Renge daydreamed.

"Burnt them 'a little bit'?" Hikaru mused quietly. I smirked.

"She does know cookies aren't supposed to look like that, right?" I added.

"Maybe we just _assumed_ she was making cookies and she was _actually_ making scones?" Marcie joked.

"I highly doubt that's the case." Haruhi deadpanned, seemingly unamused with our childish teasing.

The four of us continued to whisper among ourselves until Honey suddenly spoke up from where he stood by the window. "Wow! She wasn't kidding, these really are burnt!" He called to Mori-senpai who took the bag from him, placing it down on the coffee table in front of us.

"Don't eat that, it's bad for you." He said in his usual flat tone. Renge didn't seem too happy that the two third years had insulted her cooking skills, whether intentionally or not. So, she began chasing them around the room; her brown hair turning into red-eyed snakes.

Haruhi stood and walked around the table to pick up the small bag and take out a cookie. She nibbled some off the corner hesitantly. "They're not that bad, actually. They've got a good flavour to them."

"Really? Lemme try!" Marcie said, leaning over the table to take the cookie that Haruhi held out. Marcie thanked her happily, reminding me of why she's constantly told that she and Honey-senpai are like siblings. Despite being no where near as short as he is, she's still a good couple inches shorter than Haruhi (because apart from Marcie and Honey, she is the shortest), about as much as the width of Mori-senpai's hand if he stretched out his fingers. Not to mention how she got excited at the mention of sweets. And how they had...the same...last...name...?

Tons of people have the same last name, though...like how there were two Suzushima's in my Japanese History class that had to constantly tell people that they weren't related, they just happened to have the same last name.

"Woah!" Marcie managed to voice her thoughts of awe around a mouthful of cookie. "You're right, this is better than the lump of coal I expected."

Hikaru and I exchanged mischievous glances before he walked slyly around the table to Haruhi while I stood closer to Marcie than what was probably necessary.

 **"May we try?"** Hikaru leaned over and bit the other end of Haruhi's cookie slowly. I tried doing the same to Marcie, but I got embarrassed at the last second and hesitated, allowing her enough time to duck and take a new cookie from the bag, shoving it into my mouth quickly and going to stand by Haruhi with a furious blush on her cheeks. I would have teased her about said blush, had it not been for the one that I was certain rested upon my own features as well.

But why? I do stuff like that with other people all the time, so why did I suddenly get so embarrassed...?

Hikaru stared over at me curiously, as if to say 'what happened there?'. I shrugged and waved a hand dismissively; 'no big deal'.

I was saved from further interrogation as Tamaki popped up and ran to Kyoya, pointing at us and yelling furiously. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! They ate the girl's cookiiiiiiiieeeessss!" He whined at the end while Kyoya mumbled something about the four of us 'suddenly being closer than ever before'. _That's one way to put it..._ I thought to myself, risking a glance at Marcie past Haruhi and Hikaru who were standing between us. She was still blushing and avoiding eye contact... What's wrong with us?

I've done stuff like that before with her, but neither of us have reacted like this before...well, I know I haven't. I'm not sure about her anymore...

But what does it mean?

"If you wanted some, Hikaru there's plenty more in the bag." Haruhi told him. But:

How did she know it was Hikaru...?

WHY AM I SO CONFUSED AT EVERY THING TODAY?!

I sighed in irritation. I'm even getting confused as to _why_ I'm confused! What's wrong with me today...

I caught the concern in Hikaru's eyes as he glanced at me when I sighed. He can probably sense my stress. He opened his mouth to question me, it fortunately, Tamaki wasn't done fussing over Haruhi so I was saved again when he popped up in front of her and grabbed her face.

"THAT'S NOT THE WAY YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO REACT, HARUHI! YOU HAVE TO STAY STRONG AND REJECT THEM, THEN CASUALLY BRUSH THEM TO THE SIDE!" He screeched.

"Please stop shouting, senpai. This is sexual Harassment." Haruhi deadpanned in annoyance.

Tamaki let go, but, didn't stop yelling. "SEXUAL HARASSMENT?! If THIS is sexual harassment then what THEY were doing must be 10 TIMES WORSE!" He continued, pointing at Hikaru and I.

" **Calm down, Tono. We're sorry**!" We called over to him, though we allowed ourselves to smirk slightly.

"EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!" Renge suddenly yelled after a moments silence. She was with Honey senpai by the door, and the small 3rd year looked up at her in shock, nearly spilling the pink mug of milk that he was holding.

The rest of us turned to look at her in confusion and alarm. "W-what?"

"Except for Kyoya, all of your characters are lukewarm!" She yelled. "Each of you needs to have some sort of dark side; you understand? Girls are vulnerable to young men who are _troubled_. If you keep carrying on like _this_ then it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming altogether! Are you _trying_ to run my precious Kyoya's business!?" She yelled, her eye twitching in anger as she glared at all of us in turn, excluding Kyoya of course.

We stayed silent; unsure of what to say. As it turns out, she wasn't expecting us to say anything, as she continued as soon as she had caught her breath.

"As your manager, it's my job to change your backgrounds." She paused for breath again, allowing the hosts just enough time to exchange looks of curiosity, alarm, horror and confusion.

She pointed a finger at Honey-senpai and continued. "Let's start with you! If all you are is cute inside and out than your no different than a baby! Therefore, from now on...you'll be the baby-faced thug!" She yelled, causing Honey to shriek out in horror as if the title was a death sentence.

"And Mori-senpai, you'll be his childhood friend: the flunky!" She continued. Mori just nodded his head quietly. I saw Marcelline nudge Haruhi, pulling on her sleeve to get her to a lower level so she could whisper in her ear. I still caught her asking "what's a 'flunky'?" Haruhi shook her head and whispered back "tell you later. It's not exactly the time to pull out a dictionary, you might miss something important."

Marcie then smiled, "yeah, this is hilarious!"

I was pulled back to reality from earwigging when Renge directed her finger to me and Hikaru. "The twins will be basket-ball players enslaved in their own world!" This caused Marcie to burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as small tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Haruhi was trying to calm her down, but was giggling in spite of herself.

She looked up in alarm though when Renge pointed to her, an indication that it was her turn to be given a new character. "Haruhi will be an honour student who is constantly being bullied!"

Marcie fell off the sofa and started to flail about on the floor, laughing hysterically. I suppose Haruhi's horrified expression wasn't helping, either.

"And as for you, Tamaki, you're the school idol who's admired for your good looks but you actually have an inferiority complex you're hiding from the world: The lonely Prince!"She declared triumphantly.

"As for you, Kyoya you're fine just the way you are; so I want you to stay just as kind and affectionate as ever, kay?" She finished by looking innocently over to Kyoya who did something resembling a smile in response.

"Thank you, I'm honoured." He replied. Suck-up.

Almost everyone in the club had expressions that were mixtures of extreme depression, horror and confusion.

 _Haruhi POV_

Marcie however, seemed to be enjoying this too much.

"Renge-chan, Renge-chan! What's my new character?" She asked excitedly.

Renge looked over her shoulder at the blonde and raised an eyebrow as if the answer was obvious.

"But Marcelline-chan, you're character is fine as it is! With its own tragic back story and everything!" The girl explained enthusiastically.

Uh oh. I took a quick glance around the room at the other hosts. Everyone looked confused, mostly. But Honey-senpai and Kyoya-senpai looked different. Kyoya seemed to know what was coming, which made me think he knew all along. After all, I do remember him saying that he read the files and did searches on all the host club's guests; which probably means he read hers.

I don't know how I didn't realise that he knew this whole time.

"What do you mean, 'tragic back story'?" Marcie asked, her sweet, happy tone wavering in places to reveal the anger and sadness that lurked underneath.

Renge smiled excitedly as she started to explain it as if she was giving important information in some kind of anime or manga.

"Well, after meeting you yesterday I thought there was something off about you -ya know, cuz of your uniform- so I decided to do some research! I was really surprised when I saw that your father was actually a wealthy businessman since I heard you were just a commoner. Then on a different file I read about which middle school you went to and that's when it all clicked into place! You met Haruhi in middle school with your -get this!- twin sister and the three of you didn't talk much at first until your mother died. There were tons of news paper articles on how she might have been murdered by your own step fa-" Renge was abruptly cut off by a china tea cup whizzing past her face (barely missing her) and smashing into the wall behind her. Everybody directed their attention to Marcie, who had another tea-cup in hand, ready to throw.

"Shut. Up." She spoke calmly, yet with no traces of her usual, kind happy self. Renge closed her mouth which was still open from when she had been cut off mid-sentence. The girl then nodded her head slightly before looking down at the ground in shame, finally realising that reciting such sad events in such a happy tone to people who had nothing to do with it probably wasn't the smartest choice.

"My past is none of your concern, Renge; whether you mean well or not."

The blonde then turned on her heel to face the door way to the host club. "I'll clean that up later." She said coldly to Kyoya (without making eye contact) before leaving the third music room.

What surprised me most was that Kaoru was the first one to make a move after her, beckoning for Renge, Hikaru and I to follow.

After about five minutes of the whole host club (and a few guests) searching for their hostess, they learned that she was no longer on school grounds.

Hikaru turned to me after a long staring contest with Kaoru. They must have been having one of those internal telepathic twin conversations.

"Any ideas where she might go at a time like this?" He asked me.

I thought about it for a minute.

"Yeah. I don't think that Renge should come with us, though; since she's probably the last person Marcie wants to see right now." I replied, feeling slightly guilty for my choice of words as Renge again lowered her head in shame.

"Well you can't go on your own." Hikaru told me, just before a small lightbulb appeared over Kaoru's head from behind his older brother.

"Why don't you go with her then, Hikaru? I'll stay here with the others in case she comes back here. I wanna help pick up this china, too." Kaoru added. Hikaru looked taken aback, and about to retort, but I quickly intersected.

"I'd really appreciate that, actually. Do y'mind?" I asked, directing my gaze to the older Hitachiin boy.

"But, um. Could I ask a favour of you, Kaoru? There's another place I think she could be and if you don't mind, I'd like you to check there?" I knew she was more likely to go to the place I was sending him, but that's kinda why I sent him there. What? She has her OTP's, I have mine.

* * *

 _Trees of the town reveal the time has come_

 _Once again to shift our shade and colours_

* * *

 _*_ Yes I had to look that up, otherwise we would have had a repeat of the *tea-cup fetish* incident with *miss annoying-voice-otaku-girl*. Original, I know.

**I know the twins aren't British, but (I am, so) I'd feel weird writing 'Mommy'. I already wanna change the spelling of that. My British fingers be itching over the 'u' right now so I'm gonna go be a Brit and make some tea.

***I'm sorry if that was offensive, it's my fault for asking my girlfriend (Jenny-apocalypse on this site, go check her account out plz ^_^) for similies. Also she read through this a week earlier than you guys did while it was still in progress so you can thank her for the lack of spelling that I would normally have.


	10. (10) AotLM! (Part 2)

**Hooray for double digits! Finally the 10th chapter :D**

 **Thank you all so much for TWENTY NINE FOLLOWS AND EIGHTEEN FAVOURITES OH MY GOD!** **! It means a lot to know that people actually want to read the random stuff that my imagination burps out sometimes* XD**

 **Thank you to acrosseverystar for your amazing inspiration and support, thank you Jenny-apocalypse for helping me with ideas and pulling me out of the abyss of writers block on multiple occasions ^_^**

 **I know I'm making a big deal out of just 10 chapters, but I don't care, I'm happy anyways. Lets carry on with this.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Attack of The Lady Manager! (Part 3)**

 _Kaoru POV_

I paused for a moment before using the palm of my hand to push open the rusted metal gate that was only as tall as my waist, same as the rest of the wall.

Looking around me, I suddenly felt extremely doubtful. After what happened earlier with the cookie, would Marcelline even _want_ to see me? Maybe she would have preferred Haruhi finding her instead.

I walked through the graveyard slowly, looking down at the note Haruhi had given me with the directions on where to go.

 _When you go through the main gate, follow the path straight ahead until you get to the big oak tree in the middle of the graveyard. Then go left and follow that path up the hill to the sakura tree. You should be able to see her from there._

By following the instructions to the second mentioned tree, I glanced around my surroundings to see if I could find her. It was difficult, due to the sakura petals that fell from the tree and glided gracefully through the air to rest successfully on the grass.

 _Third person POV_

He saw her there, lying flat on her back with her head tilted away from him in order to stare at the grave beside her.

He walked over slowly and cautiously, admittedly quite afraid of what mood she was in...hopefully she had calmed down a bit and wouldn't throw anything at him like she had at Renge in the club room.

Upon getting halfway up the hill, he could see that she was holding a smal picture that was clearly very old due to the lines across the middle (horizontal and vertical) where it had been folded. Though from that distance; he couldn't have possibly seen what the picture was of, though there seemed to be at least a few people there.

She was singing to herself softly, and he closed his mouth hurriedly, cutting himself off from the faint 'hello' he was going to mutter to make his presence known.

He couldn't help himself, he loved hearing her sing. It was the kind of voice that gives can give you chills and soothe the soul; therefore he didn't care how creepy he was being right now, just standing there staring at her. Listening contently as she sang.

 _Bones, still sinking like stones;_

 _All that we fell for._

 _Us, and where we grew up;_

 _Are memory's that I live for._

 _Oh, we lived in a beautiful world._

 _Yeah we did, yeah we did._

 _Till' you left me alone in this world._

 _Yeah you did, yeah you did._

 _Kaoru POV_

Me, being a mesmerised idiot, stepped on a twig as I neared the top of the hill.

She jolted in alarm, and...wait...

Is she falling down the-

Oh my god she's falling down the hill.

Her lying position and location had made her small movement enough to send her rolling ungracefully down the hill. Towards me.

I tried dodging, but between laughing cruelly at her clumsiness, and her rolling towards me like a bowling ball, she knocked straight into my legs causing me to lose my balance and go tumbling down after her.

 _Third person POV_

Before long, the two were laughing as they fell. What was once an amusing accident was now childish fun; easy, carefree, childish fun.

When they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, however, only one set of laughter could be heard for a few moments more. When Kaoru noticed her silence, he calmed himself and sat up, glancing around him for the blonde.

"Marcie? Marcie, where'd you go?" he called out softly.

After another moment of silence, a quiet groan of distress came from a nearby grave a little way away from him. He couldn't help feeling slightly unnerved, like he was in some kind of horror movie.

 **Nobody likes sing alone/getting separated in a graveyard. It happened to me once...was not fun. Was very creepy. May or may not have cried...**

 ***Ahem*...anyways...**

He turned towards the noise and saw her lying face-down beside a gravestone, hair fanned out around her. The crimson light of the setting sun seemed to make her glow faintly.

"Marcie? Hellooo?" He called, crawling over to her. "Are you alright?" He shook her slightly in an attempt to wake her up. He found it kinda odd that he was so worried about her; maybe having her live with him and his family had affected him in more ways than he first expected...

 _Nah, that's probably not it. Of course he'd be worried, she's his friend! Just his friend..._

"I-I'm fine, Kaoru," she called softly, her voice slightly muffled due to being face-down in the grass as she placed a flattened palm at the top of her fore-head while slowly sitting up up. A light hiss left her lips as she did so while her face scrunched up in pain.

The younger Hitachiin sat on his knees in front of the model. "Lemme see." He reached up and gently grabbed her wrist. Once he moved her hand away, a bloody wound could be seen going one or two inches along the line that separated her hair from her forehead. "Marcie! Y-You're bleeding!"

The blonde girl brushed her blood stained hair out of her face before looking at her hand. "So I am." She said, squinting at the crimson stains on her palm as she began to sway a little.

"We better get you back to the school and to the nurse. You're losing a lot of blood." He took both her hands in his own and pulled her up, wrapping one of her arms around his shoulders so that she could lean on him.

Marcelline quietly mumbled random things to him as they slowly made their way back to the main gate and into the Hitachiin's limo.

Kaoru slid in first and took her hands as the chauffeur lifted her in after him. Then as they started driving back to the school, her head began to droop slightly.

"Hey, you gotta try and stay awake, alright?" He told her, slightly panicked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to keep her upright.

"I-I-I'll...be o-okay. Just a-a bit of...b-blood." Despite her saying that, her eyes began to close as she started to fall forward.

Kaoru brought her into a hug to stop her from falling off the seat, blushing ever so slightly. "You're not fine. I'm taking you back to the school so we can get help. The hospital is too far away."

She nodded, weakly bringing up an arm to wipe the blood slowly running down her fore-head.

After a couple minutes more of driving, they finally arrived at the school. Kaoru asked the chauffeur to call Hikaru and inform everyone that Marcie had been found and was being taken to the nurses office.

Once there, the nurse gave her painkillers before cleaning and bandaging the wound.

"Try not to make any sudden movements with your head for a while, okay?" she informed the blonde as she finished wrapping the bandages around her head.

However, the injury seemed to have effected Marcelline's logic slightly, as she decided to nod in response to the nurse's advice.

She then quickly hissed in pain and brought a hand up to to her bandaged wound.

The nurse sighed and repeated her statement before shooing the two teens out of the room.

They walked down the hall together back to the host club, but

Kaoru stopped upon hearing the blonde sniffle.

He turned just in time to catch her quickly wiping a tear away as she avoided looking at him.

"What's wrong? Does your head still hurt? Should we go back to the-"

"No, I'm okay now, I think. I was just thinking..." she mumbled.

"About...?" He asked, intending for her to finish the sentence.

After a moments silence, she suddenly stopped walking. Her mouth was in a firm line and her eyes held no emotion, but her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. To sum it up, it seemed like she was unsure what to feel about what ever she'd been thinking about.

"I threw a teacup at Renge." She suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"Y-you did." Kaoru replied slowly, his own expression turning mirthful as he bit the inside of his cheek to try and restrain the laughter that threatened to explode.

"Don't laugh! I feel really bad about it!" Marcie whined, turning to stare at him as guilt and faint

"I know, it's just how you said it so bluntly!" He replied apologetically, though he began to laugh uncontrollably; clutching his stomach and doubling over.

"Seriously, Kaoru! Stop laughing, you'll make me laugh and then I'll feel even worse!" She whined again, though the growing smile on her face betrayed her as she soon began laughing with him as they climbed the stairs to music room 3.

Haruhi practically tackled the poor girl as soon as Kaoru (being a gentlemanly host) opened the door for her.

"Marcie! Thank god! I was so worried, you jerk!" She yelled, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck in tight hug.

Marcelline lifted her own arms and wrapped them around her friend's waist.

"I know, I'm really sorry." She replied, quietly. Now she was back to feeling guilty.

Haruhi pulled away and then noticed the bandages. "What happened to you?! You didn't try t-"

"No. I didn't. And I don't plan to try ever again. I know I made you worried and I'm truly, honestly sorry; but I promise you I'm never gonna try that again." Marcie spoke sincerely, staring straight into the brunette's eyes with a firm look in her own.

Now it was Haruhi's turn to cry, which allowed the other hosts to panic slightly before she tightened her grip on the blonde and nuzzled her face into the crook of Marcie's neck.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said, sniffling softly.

Marcie smiled, and spoke with a hint of sarcasm though the volume and tone of her voice was still soft and calm. "That's great and all, it if you get snot on my uniform then you'll be the one washing it for me." She teased, and the two girls exchanged a giggle before releasing one another and straightening up.

"Marcie-chan, we're happy you're okay, too!" Honey said, running over and jumping into the girl's arms.

She smiled warmly and thanked him before telling the rest of the hosts that she was sorry for making them worry and for breaking a cup.

Then she handed the lolita to Mori (who patted her head in thanks) before walking cautiously over to where Renge sat on a sofa.

The girl fidgeted nervously, now slightly afraid of the blonde. "Um...Renge-chan. I sincerely apologise for throwing the cup at you. It doesn't matter if I was angry or not, I shouldn't have lashed out like that." She said, awkwardly.

Renge fidgeted again in her seat. "No...I went too far. I shouldn't have gone through your files without permission."

You shouldn't have gone through my files at all, but I'll let that part go since I nearly jacked your face up with a teacup. The model thought to herself. We'll call it even.

After that, there was an awkward silence before Honey called out happily to the nine occupants of the room. "Who's up for some cake?"

Everyone agreed, eager to break the ice. Slowly but surely, it melted on its own and the club was back to its normal, chatty self. "So, what's the next order of buisness, manager?" Tamaki asked, to which she happily replied.

"Well, was thinking we make a movie about your new characters! Of course, I still need to give one to Marcie. It shouldn't be too hard though, since I've already thought of one!" She said happily, all sense of awkwardness and fear fear for said blonde fading away.

"Ooh, yay! What is it?" Marcie asked, though she was still slightly cautious.

"You're Honey's little sister who is Haruhi's only friend and secretly knows about how her brother always bullys him. You try and help Haruhi because you have a deep, unrequited love for him!" She finished triumphantly, causing Haruhi and the twins to turn away in an attempt to hide their laughter.

Tamaki's reaction was exactly the opposite, however. He seemed quite horrified, mumbling about how someone had come to take his precious daughter away and seemed to temporarily forget that Marcie was straight and a female**.

Meanwhile, Marcie herself didn't seem to know how to react. Whether to laugh with her three best friends, give up on humanity, or join in with Tamaki's depressed rant and share his emo-corner. She had always wondered what it was like over there...

* * *

Hikaru jumped up above the other players and roughly threw the basket ball through the hoop in an airball shoot with mere seconds to spare before half-time***. He landed expertly on the ground and proceeded to smile and wave at all the cheering fans in the audience.

"Hi-ta-chin! Hi-ta-chiin!" They chanted, clapping on every syllable. Only his last name though, because of course, no one knew which twin had made the shot. Getting it wrong would be embarrassing for them, and surely humiliating for the twin himself.

One of the cheerleaders on the sidelines of the court boldly handed him a towel, daring to make a guess at his name. It was a 50/50 chance she was willing to take if it meant that one of them would notice her.

They barely spoke to anyone other than each other, after all.

"Here, I brought you a towel...K-Kaoru-kun?" She said hesitantly, making the mistake of pausing and stammering as well as choosing the wrong name.

"Thanks, but I'm Hikaru." He replied politely, though his expression remained blank.

"O-oh, I'm sor-!"

"Don't be, it's fine; I'm used to it." The older Hitachiin interrupted the girls desperate attempt at an apology with a solemn look in his eyes.

Just because he was to it; doesn't mean it won't still affect him.

Hikaru was suddenly ripped from his thoughts by a quick, loud whistle and many shouts coming from a small crowd that had formed around a boy curled up on the floor and clutching his knee, face scrunched up in pain beneath a mass of orange hair.

Both features were identical to Hikaru's, and he practically jumped from his chair to push through the crowd and kneel beside the only person in the world who he ever cared about as he was lifted onto a stretcher.

"Kaoru! Kaoru!" He called, placing a pleading hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

A man from the two put a hand on Hikaru's own shoulder, mumbling some insensitive nonsense about having to get on with the game.

It doesn't matter what he said; if it wasn't Kaoru speaking to him then it wasn't relevant, which is why Hikaru slapped the man's hand away angrily. "Shut up! Don't touch me, you don't understand!" The man looked taken aback, and left him alone.

Hikaru would have continued to glare, had it not been for Kaoru weakly reaching up to rest a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hikaru...listen to me. Please don't worry. There's nothing you can do; you can't share my pain. Now, go on." He pleaded with Hikaru, staring apologetically into his eyes as he did so. Eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of pain from his injury and guilt for making his beloved other half worry so much.

"I-I can't! It hurts!" Hikaru yelled in reply. Kaoru's hand was still resting on Hikaru's shoulder, so the older twin grabbed it in both his own hands, laying his forehead against them as he yelled out.

"It hurts, Kaoru!"

 _Your pain is my pain. It doesn't matter to me if no one else understands; as long as we have each other, we can go on living!_

The Hitachiin brothers then found themselves sitting side-by-side in the school gardens. Rain soaked right through their clothes and onto their skin, summoning goosebumps as a tall, slender figure appeared before them through the mist.

They immediately recognised the figure's blonde hair and violet eyes to belong the the school's most admired student: Tamaki Suoh. He too was completely drenched from standing in the rain, though it was evident he'd been standing there much longer than they had.

He was looking down upon the two brothers, wearing an expression that suggested many hidden emotions. They looked up at him as he walked over to them; unsure of what Ouran's most respected student would want with them, mere 1st years.

"I'm sorry, but I'm envious. The way the two of you support eachother like that..." He told them, causing the twins to raise their eyebrows slightly in surprise.

"But...Suoh-senpai-"

"How could you be envious of _us_?"

" **You're the school's _idol_**!" Their finishing statement seemed to cause the 2nd year to scoff.

"An idol...right. I hate that people all worship me for something as superficial as my appearance. I think it would be much better for me to be alone." He admitted solemnly.

 _One lonely heart meets another. They pass eachother, wounding one another! What are the hearts of these young men made of?_

Kaoru opened his mouth to offer words of comfort, but he was interrupted by the sound of heavy breathing and rustling in the nearby forest.****

The three boys whipped their heads around to see another 1st year. The Hitachiin brothers recognised him as the honour student; Haruhi Fujioka, who was in the same class as them.

The boy had stumbled out from the trees, and looked up in fear; his large, dark eyes were full to the brim with fear, and seemed close to overflowing any second. The gazes of the four boys interlocked for a moment, until the oldest among them realised. If this was Haruhi Fujioka, then Mitskuni Haninozuka wouldn't be far behind.

"I'd keep running if I were you, Fujioka-kun. He won't go easy on you just because you have us as witnesses."

The brunette's eyes widened, as if he had just remembered that he was being chased. He shot one last, pleading look at his classmates, at the school's so-called 'idol'. Nothing.

As he stumbled back to his feet and began running through the forest, he realised he didn't blame those three boys for not helping him. He sure wouldn't have helped them if it was the other way around. And they weren't even the ones being pummelled.

Haruhi couldn't help scoffing to himself as he bolted past many bushes and trees. Three months of endless bullying, tormenting, abuse, teasing and violence; all caused by one small, innocent-looking 3rd year because Haruhi had befriended the boys little sister. They weren't even friends at first, he had merely helped her pick up her books when she dropped them that one time. But now, unintentionally, they had grown a lot closer.

When she wasn't she wasn't around, there was only one other person who had gotten on good enough terms with Mitskuni to reason with him. This boy's name was Takashi Morinozuka; and he would sometimes be there. And sometimes manage to convince the short blonde to let Haruhi go, or at least go easy on him.

There was no way he could run anymore, so instead, Haruhi flopped down on the ground by one of the trees and hoped to god that this would be one of those times.

"You can't run away forever." Came a voice from behind him. _That_ voice. _His_ voice. "I'll show you what happens to anyone that crosses me." If he wasn't absolutely terrified, Haruhi probably would have made some kind of remark. But, his scholarship was for brains, not brawn. And so he kept his mouth shut.

Instead, Haruhi silently thanked the gods for letting the 3rd year's drop-out friend be there.

"Don't do it, Mitskuni. You should have realised by now that when you hurt others, you're really only hurting yourself." Is that it? Just a plea and then some line from a cat poster? Looks like now won't be one of those times after all.

"I didn't ask you for any advice. Want me to you over my knee again?" Too exhausted to run, too late to hide. There was literally nothing Haruhi could do except look at the third years in desperation and horror.

"Ya know...it really pisses me of when people don't know their place." Mitskuni spat out with narrowed eyes. Scratch that; _watery-eyes._

* * *

"I'm so sorry Haru-chan! I can't do this anymore!" Honey wailed as he leapt into Haruhi's arms for a hug. The bewildered 1st year patted his back reassuringly while Renge yelled in frustration.

"Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! What's wrong with you!? You gotta stick to the script!" She commanded, waving a rolled-up script around pointing it at Honey.

The small 3rd year clung tighter to Haruhi and continued to cry. "B-but I can't!"

Renge sighed and called for the camera to stop rolling as Marcelline emerged from the trees behind them. She was in the original Ouran girl's uniform since it had been required for the scene she was supposed to have appeared in just a couple of moments ago; but after hearing the club's manager yell, she assumed that something was wrong and left her position to go see for herself. "What happened? Why'd they stop rolling?" She asked Haruhi as Honey leapt from the brunette's arms to Mori's. The two third years then went over to where Renge had summoned them to listen to her lecture.

"Honey broke character and Renge got mad." Haruhi replied, gratefully taking the hand that her friend offered her.

"I see..." Marcelline replied with a smirk as the two girls thanked the extra who gave them a towel and then linked arms as they walked over to their chairs.

Hiakru, Kaoru and Kyoya were already there chatting, and Haruhi handed a towel to Tamaki as he jogged over from his set.

"How'd we go from changing our characters to shooting a movie about them?" Hikaru asked, a script in his hands which he re-read with an expression of distaste.

"And why's there an entire film crew here to shoot it?" Haruhi asked, sweatdropping.

Kyoya spoke up from the group's right side, somehow managing to hold up his laptop as he typed. "Apparently, she flew them in from Hollywood. Don't you recognise the director? He directed the vampire movie called-"

"NO WAY! Isn't he the guy who directed Millenal snow?! I LOVED that movie!" Marcelline interrupted him suddenly, something he clearly wasn't too happy about it.

"Yes. That's him. That movie was the top grossing box-office hit in America last year." Kyoya continued, and anger mark appearing on his forehead.

She saw Haruhi scowl and immediately knew they were both thinking the same thing. These damn rich people.

"And how come this dumb script says Kaoru's the pitcher?" Hikaru complained, gesturing to the script in his his hand.

"Yeah." Kaoru agreed with a nod.

"Pitcher?" Marcie asked, tilting her head to the side.

"What's that?" Haruhi added, mirroring her friend's actions.

" **If you don't know, never mind**." The twins groaned dismissively.

The girls were about to protest, but Haruhi noticed Tamaki happily jogging over as he called her name. She politely handed him a towel and the trio watched as Tamaki and Haruhi conversed.

Marcie POV

Before long, Renge called Haruhi and I around the corner of the school to do a 'practice run' of the next scene. There, she held two tough-looking guys by the wrist who didn't seem all too happy.

"These two gentlemen have just agreed to make a special appearance in our film!" Renge beamed, gesturing to them.

"In your film?" One echoed in confused irritation, both of them trying to wriggle their wrists out of the grip of the surprisingly strong manager.

"What are you talking about?" The other asked, his voice in the same tone as the first.

"After all, we'll need some tough guys for the big finale! That's when all the club members come together to fight against the ultimate villains at their school. According to the script, these two are from a wealthy family that got their money from being a part of the yakuza; don't you think that's a brilliant casting choice?" Renge explained excitedly.

"Uh...are you sure they agreed? They both seem kinda pissed." I asked, only for my voice to be drowned out by the two guys yelling.

"What's _with_ this girl?" The first guy complained, tugging his arm away from her.

"Whatever my dad does has nothing to do with me!" The second added, yelling loudly in Renge's face; though she didn't seem to care.

Haruhi tried calling her aswell, but the girl ignore her.

"Just come over here and wait for your cue!" Renge chirped.

Then the two guys managed to yank their wrists out of her grip and one yelled before pushing her roughly.

Haruhi suddenly jumped behind her though and smashed right into some spair equipment that as leaning against the wall.

"Haruhi! Are you alright?" Renge asked, finally noticing that Haruhi and I were still there. I however, noticed the _tears forming in the corner of my best friends eyes._

This may or may not have aided me to march angrily over to the guy that pushed her and kicked his feet out from underneath him. I also may or may not have grabbed his collar and head butted him when he tried to get up.

Tamaki appeared around the corner and joined me in kicking their asses till Haruhi stopped us both by telling us she was fine.

"But you're crying!" I yelled, close to tears myself. My knuckles were dotted with small cuts and grazes where I had missed the guy's face from where he kept dodging. I still hit him a fair amount of times though...I mean...no I didn't. He was completely unharmed when he and his friend ran away in terror.

He had the nosebleed and black eye _before_ I hit him twice in those areas.

"What? I am?" Haruhi asked, an eyebrow raising in confusion.

"How can you not know if you're crying?" Tamaki asked, his voice slightly louder than normal due to anger at the thought of his precious daughter in tears. She still looked confused before a small lightbulb appeared above her.

"My contact fell, that's probably why." She concluded, proving her statement by gently picking up the contact lenses with her finger and holding it out for us to see.

"..." Tamaki and I blinked once. Twice. "Your...contact?" I mumbled in disbelief, relief and confusion while Tamaki went on about being a full fledged host and being able to cry without eye drops.

"You..." Came a small, uncertain voice from behind me. _Oh yeah, Renge's still here..._

"You...Please tell me you got that, cameraman!" She yelled, suddenly reverting back to her origional self as she pointed to the cameraman behind us who gave her a thumbs up.

"Other than Haruhi's contact falling out, that was an ideal final scene! All it needs now is a narration by my sweet Kyoya~" She babbled excitedly just as her 'sweet Kyoya' smashed the camera lense with a rock. Pretty bad ass in my opinion.

"Why...? Is something wrong?" She asked slowly with evident hesitance. My eyebrow twitches in irritation and I had the urge to yell 'YES! There are many things wrong!' But Kyoya's...' _explanation_ ' was way more fitting.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot allow there to be a record of any club members engaging in violence." He began, sending a not-so-subtle glare in the direction of Tamaki and I who fidgeted and avoided eye contact with the scary tax collector.

"I think you've caused enough trouble around here, Renge. Please stop being such a pest." He concluded by redirecting his gaze to the girl in front of him who looked as if she would burst into a crying mess if you so much as booped her nose.

"A...pest?" Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she began to yell. "But you're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry! You're suppose to be kind and affectionate, Kyoya! Why are you acting so differently now? Tell me why!" She demanded.

Tamaki took a step or two towards her and smiled kindly. "Because that's not the real Kyoya."

Realisation dawned over Renge's features as her knees buckled to cushion her dramatic fall to the ground as she brought up her hands to hide her sobbing face. Haruhi and I exchanged a quick glance of pity before slowly approaching the girl. Haruhi kneeled down infront of her while I stood behind Renge with a hand on her shoulder.

"Does it really matter?" I asked softly. Renge attempted to pause her sobs as she uncovered her face and turned slightly to look at me through tear-filled brown eyes.

"Who cares if Kyoya is a little different than what you expected? Take a good look at the person inside and get to know him little by little. It's a lot more fun that way!" Haruhi added, tilting he head to the side and showing off one of her many adorable smiles. I swear; Haruhi is some kind of reincarnation of a goddess of cuteness. And we all know how I am with cuteness.

* * *

 _The world always changes around us_

 _but weakness will always remain_

* * *

 **Chapter 10 done :D I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good in places, but I'm an idiot so I didn't think about how Renge and Marcie would make up and be friends again so...yeah...that bit was kinda crap. Sorry :P**

 **Also, I think I've been spelling Kyoya's name wrong? Can someone please tell me if it's Kyouya or Kyoya because I've seen both in other fanfics and now I'm confused T^T**

 **The next chapter will probably start with the original plot but then it will be non-canon, because I've had an idea that I wanna write down and post before I forget.**

 **And maybe you could leave a review or whatever...I like reading people's reviews n stuff cuz it's nice seeing what you think about the chapter and if there's anything I could improve on or if there's anything you want me to include in the next chapter.**

* * *

*I am very sorry ^_^"

**I would have said both girls are straight, but I personally think that Haruhi might be bisexual because of the first episode when she kissed *tea-cup fetish* and then said that it was 'just as well'. I'm over here like "HARUHI'S PART OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY TOO!?"

Again, very sorry.

***Look at me, with my knowledge of basket ball and stuff. Yeah. Despite the implications I make about me not having a life, I know a thing or two about basket-ball. Like how if you google 'stuff that makes sense to basket-ball players', you can find useful basket-ball knowledge if you scroll down enough.

****Does anyone know why Ouran has it's own damn forest? Like, I guess I understand that the peeing baby statue is artistic or something but that's just a forest. People could get lost in there and stuff. Ooh, future chapter ideas.


	11. (11) A Jealous Fan

**I know I said the first part would be story driven but I changed my mind. Power of the authors, yo. Keeping you on your toes.**

 **UNEXPECTED.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Ijime Kurishe and brotherly feuds**

 _Marcie POV_

The next day, Renge was no where to be seen in classes; confirming our suspicion that she'd gone back to France after yesterday's incident. When all the other tedious lessons were over, I told Haruhi and the tweeds to head over to the music room without me because I had to pick up a book from the library; however in reality I was just stressing over the fact that my first gym lesson was on Monday. It's Wednesday today.

I hate it.

If you've forgotten why I'm dreading my first gym class, go back to chapter 2. Bye-bye, 4th wall.

Its bad enough to be forced to be athletic for an hour but to do it in an outfit with parts that could be used as a bikini bottom is just plain cruel.

I calmed myself down from my little mind-rant and left the library, pleased at the sight of no people around to disturb the calm stillness in the air.

I walked along the hallway in a peaceful silence, enjoying the rare absence of sound that Ouran didn't often display.

But of course, it didn't last long as I felt a tap on my shoulder and a polite 'ahem'. Turning slowly, I came face to face with a girl who was way taller than me (so basically she was an inch or so taller than average. Cuz I'm short.) with brown eyes and a short brown bob that rested just above her shoulders. I recognised her from the group next to ours in cooking class and had seen her staring at me in classes for a while, but I just assumed it was because she was an extreme fan of the twins and was jealous; because I'd had to deal with similar scenarios in the past. She was probably going to try and intimidate me now that no one was around. I remembered someone saying her name was 'Ijime Kurishe', and recognised the surname to be that of a large sweets company.

She smiled at me, but something in her eyes seemed off; cold even.

"You're the peasant who's been living with the Hitachiin twins, right?" She said, with the same sickly sweet smile.

Yup, there it is.

I sighed. I guess I always knew that this would eventually happen; a jealous guest whining because her precious host club had allowed a girl to join and steal their attention.

"Yeah." I replied. "And?"

"So does that mean you're supposed to be a model?"She kept up the voice and the smile.

I raised an eyebrow. "'Supposed to be'?"

"Well, you're kind of short to be a model, aren't you?"

"And you're kind of sour to be the heir to a sweets company." I shot back before turning back around and continuing to walk to the library. It wasn't the best insult, but it was the best I could think of if I wanted to be quick.

I heard her growl slightly as she speed-walked to catch up with me.

"Don't sass me, commoner. My ear rings probably cost more than your whole _existence_!" She said, her smile disappearing to be replaced with a dark scowl.

"Then maybe you can sell them for a better personality." I replied with a shrug, not bothering to turn around this time.

I heard another growl as she sped up more to walk side by side with me.

"How dare you insult me! You pathetic commoners need to learn some manners." She spat out her response as if simply talking to me would make her puke.

"And you snobby rich kids need to learn some social skills; plus some insults other than 'commoner' and 'peasant'." I replied.

Then she did something that admittedly surprised me; she grabbed my forearm tightly, forcing me to stop and turn to face her before using her other hand to bitch-slap me hard across my face with such force that she made me jerk my head to the side.

"Don't mess with me, commoner. I could snap my fingers and you'd be out of this school faster than you can say 'Expelled'." She snarled, loosening her grip on my arm but not letting go.

I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my arm out of her grasp. "Try me." I said before continuing along the corridor. I feel like I haven't seen the last of her yet.

It had been my plan to not tell any of the other club members about my little encounter, she wasn't worth it. But as it turns out, Ijime's (most likely fake) nails were sharp and had made three small cuts on my cheek where she slapped me. Though it had stung at the time, I didn't expect it to _bleed_.

Unfortuantely, this meant I didn't bother looking at the wound in a mirror or anything before going to the club room, as I figured that at worst, there would just be a red mark and I would use the excuse of walking into a door. I knew that would have worked because I walked into doors a lot. A lot. In fact, the school nurse and I are pretty friendly now, since she sees me so often and her daughter is apparently a fan of my front cover appearance in a magazine from a while ago.

Tommorow, she's going to ask the chairman if she can bring said daughter with her to work during club hours to get a picture with me, which I was deeply flattered by.

Anyway, back to the origional topic. I walked through the doors of the third abandoned music room and failed at dodging the numerous coloured rose petals that floated gracefully out the door. It's an unintentional habit of mine to accidentally eat/choke on one. The bright light makes it hard to see them coming, okay?

"Marcelline! What happened? You're bleeding!" Haruhi yelled in alarm as she left her 'welcoming position' with the other hosts to come over and inspect the cuts on my cheek.

"Haruhi! Nothing and am I?" I responded to each of her sentences in turn before shooting a hand up to cover the wound before she could get a better look at it.

"Don't play dumb! If nothing happened and you didn't know you were hurt, then how did you know _exactly_ where to put your hand to cover it?" She replied, her expression and tone were filled with worry but she had faint traces of a triumphant smile.

She had every right to be triumphant because I honestly didn't know what to say to that.

"I er...walked into a door?" I tried the excuse anyway, but even a blind person wouldn't have been convinced.

"Did you not hear me saying 'don't play dumb'? I'm serious Marcie, it looks like you were attacked by a cat or something!" Haruhi theorised, though I could tell she was joking.

"Well, you're not that far off actually...but it was more of a dog I think. A female dog." I replied, smirking to myself at the subtle reference to profanity.

"Huh? How'd you know it was a girl dog?" Honey-senpai asked as he and the other hosts joined Haruhi and I at the door to inspect my 'fatal injury' (courtesy of Tamaki's special ability: being over dramatic)

"Cuz she was a BITC-"

"Please refrain from using foul language in the club room. If a guest hears, it may damage their opinion of us." Kyoya interrupted my...' _explanation_ ' and brought me to the back room where he gave me a large plaster from a first aid kit. Meanwhile, the other hosts got back into position to welcome the guests who were supposed to be arriving in a couple seconds.

He closed the door behind me as I recognised the room to be the host club's own small kitchen where we stored the cakes, washed the dishes and made the tea. And by 'we' I obviously mean Haruhi and myself.

I hopped up onto the counter beside the sink as Kyoya walked over with a bottle taken from the first aid kit.

"So what actually happened?" He asked, dabbing the cuts on my face with a cotton pad that had some kind of disinfectant on it.

"Some girl in the hall with anger issues." I stated simply, ignoring the pain that came with my cheek moving when I spoke.

"She slapped you?" He asked, throwing the pad into a nearby bin and taking the paper off of the sticky parts of the plaster.

"No, she gave me a hug and a bouquet of lovely sunflowers. You shoulda seen them; such a lovely shade of yellow." I said sarcastically.

He sighed and put the plaster over my cuts before putting the bottle of disenfectant back in the first aid box and hanging it back onto the wall where he got it. Then we left the room and got into position just in time for a tsunami of girls to cascade through the doors.

The hosts dismissed this as normal, however, and Tamaki greeted them happily by telling them to 'come on in' when they were kinda doing that on their own.

"I bought that video of the film you made!" A guest gushed.

WHAT?!

"I bought it too!"

WAIT-

"And so did I!"

NO WAY!

The hosts and I froze in shock and adopted looks of horror/confusion/shock/horror/horror/horror/some other emotions.

The guests continued being all giddy about our movie that should have been destroyed.

Things like 'That scene in the rain was just phenomenal!' And 'I love the lonely prince!' And 'the loving relationship between the twins was so sweet!', 'I wanna see Honey-sama acting like a thug again! He was so cute~', 'I wanna see more of Haruhi's poignant expressions!', 'Marcelline's singing voice was so pretty!'

"WOAH-WOAH-WOAH-WHAT?!" I snapped my head round to stare at Kyoya, along with everyone else.

"Uh...Kyoya?" Tamaki began, not having the motivation to finish.

Kyoya glanced at the blonde over the top of his notebook. "The camera lense may have been broken but the footage we already shot wasn't damaged. Naturally, I did cut out that one violent scene." He explained.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great but why did I hear a guest say something about me _singing_?" I asked. While it was flattering how she'd said she liked my voice, I still didn't like the idea of people at Ouran knowing about it.

"Well, since you didn't make an appearance in the actual film, and I've seen video's of you singing-" He began, though he was interrupted by me.

"How?!"

"There are a few from when you were younger on your file, and the twins recently sent me a video of you humming while you slept in the car." He replied with a smirk.

"...Oh." I wasn't sure what to be more upset about; the fact that there are videos of me (and most likely Michelle) singing on my _file_ , or the fact that I hummed a tune in my sleep and the tweeds _filmed_ it. "

"Now, as I was _saying_. I've seen videos of you singing, and it wasn't too bad, so I used the audio and let it play over the end credits. That way, people might watch through them; I know a lot of people don't." He explained. I could feel the colour drain from my face.

"You could have at _least_ told me..." I grumbled, too busy internally bawling to get into a proper argument with the scary shadow-lord tax-collector.

"Well if it makes you feel better, sales have been pretty good so far." Kyoya began. "That Hollywood film crew did a fantastic job. But then, I guess that was to be expected. It's better to have as much money as we can in the club's budget."

Haruhi bent down to my level to whisper in my ear. "When do you think he started calculating all of this?"

I thought about it for a moment. "...This Monday?"

"Renge-chan got here this Monday though." Haruhi replied with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly. This is _Kyoya_ we're talking about."

By the time the two of us tuned back in to the main conversation, Renge had entered the room. "Good afternoon, everyone!" She chirped. Despite their being something I dislike about the bow-wearing brunette, I have to admit that her cheerfulness is quite refreshing.

Wait, isn't end like... _not_ supposed to be here?

"Renge? But I thought you went back to France already...?" Tamaki mumbled.

Renge completely ignored him, of course."I can't believe I didn't realise this sooner!" She gushed, turning to Haruhi who immediately sweat dropped and took a small subtle step towards me.

"It was so chivalrous of you to risk your life to protect me!" She continued with the palms of both her hands on her cheeks, confirming my suspicion that she was no longer on this planet.

Regardless, Haruhi tried to escape the situation. "Well, I-uh...didn't risk my life, exactly..." she said, nudging me in a subtle cry for help.

I struggled to think of something. "Wha-well, um. Psh, yeah I mean you would've been mildly injured at most..."

We were ignored again. "I could feel the love when you lectured me about judging people! When you said it was fun to get to know people little by little, you were talking about me!"

Haruhi sweat dropped again and spoke with a deadpan expression. "Um, sorry but that's not what I-"

"Sure he was!" I interrupted as Haruhi was drowned in a depressed purple aura.

"Come on Haruhi, Let's go play games together at my house! I think it's time you got to know me better~"

It was at that moment I collapsed to the floor and began to cry with laughter. "Looks like Haruhi has a girlfriend." I choked out between giggles.

That seemed to rip Tamaki out of his rare silence. "WHAT?! Wait a minute!" He cried as Renge happily dragged Haruhi out of the room.

"I thought you wanted Haruhi to have a female friend in the first place?" Kyoya said from over his notebook.

"Yeah, a female companion-not a girlfriend!" He yelled, literally melting into a sobbing heap on the floor which only made me laugh harder. What can I say, his expression was hilarious.

* * *

 _Through all the pain_

 _believe in who we are right here and now_

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter was shorter than normal with that boring plot bit at the end but I just wanted to fully introduce Ijime so that I can involve her more in the future and have it make sense. Also, the idea I was talking about last chapter will be included later cuz it didn't really fit anywhere in this chapter which is annoying because it's not long enough to be a chapter of its own. Uuuuugh. Writing is hard T^T**


	12. (12) The Twins Fight!

**Sorry this one took me a little longer to upload than usual, I was correcting some spelling errors in the first few chapters along with writing a plot for a new story. The next chapter shouldn't take as long since I've already written about 3/4 of it. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: The twins fight!**

 _Hikaru POV_

Something's bothering him. I thought to myself. I was looking at Kaoru who lay beside me on our bed but faced away; something he never normally did. That was my first clue.

It was also 3:00 AM, and I could tell he wasn't asleep; though he was pretending to be, because I wasn't asleep. Second clue.

And as my third clue, I could simply tell that something was bothering him. He's not only my brother, but my twin, so obviously I'd be able to tell if something's bothering him.

I was just about to ask him 'what's wrong?' when I heard him whisper.

"Have you noticed anything weird lately about Marcie?" He asked.

I thought for a moment. "Not really, why?"

"Well, remember that time with Renge when Haruhi made me look for Marcie at the graveyard?"

"And she fell down the hill when you scared her?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well...she said my name."

I expected him to say something else, but he stopped there. "So?"

" _So_ , she said _my_ name. 'Kaoru'. She knew it was me, Hikaru."

Oh.

"But...that's impossible. You didn't tell her it was you beforehand?"

"No. She just... _knew_."

... _Oh_.

The two of us were silent for a while. Does he mean she can tell us apart? No way she can do that!

"But what if she can?" I heard him whisper.

"Quit reading my thoughts." I teased. "She can't."

"But what if she can?" Kaoru repeated.

"I'll prove she can't. We'll play the game tomorrow and see."

"...okay."

I fell asleep quickly after that, but Kaoru was awake before me the next morning and already in his uniform, however he was struggling to tie his tie (like always) so I got up to help him.

"Did you sleep ok?" I asked, taking the thin, black fabric from him and lifting it over his head.

"Yeah, did you?" He replied, holding his head up so I could see what I was doing.

"Mm-hmm." I told him, distracted with the knot.

Once I was dressed, we went down to the dining room where Marcelline was sitting with her back to us as we walked in. Her hair was down today, since we didn't have food tech or gym on Thursdays like today.

She was currently scrolling through a news app on her phone while using her free hand to eat an apple.

"All these different foods, and you want an apple?" Kaoru teased, gesturing to the variety of toasts and pancakes before gesturing to the apple with a nod.

"Didn't you have around 7 waffles yesterday?" I added.

She turned to us with a smirk as we sat down either side of her and both chose toast of our own preferred topping.

"Well I am still a model ya know. I need to watch my figure. As much as I'd like to eat seven waffles everyday, I have a diet that I need to get back to." She joked back taking another bite of the apple before pouring herself a glass of orange juice from the jug in front of her.

After breakfast, we all went to the front entrance and waited for the limo to pull up and take us to school.

All throughout classes, Kaoru was quiet. I could tell he was nervous about playing the game.

We arrived at the host club with our hats, and put them on before ducking behind the sofa and switching places a couple times.

Then we reappeared before our guests and smiled to them.

" **Let's play the 'Which One is Hikaru?' game**!" We cheered, and the three girls clapped in excitement.

" **So~? Can you tell which one is Hikaru**?" We chorused, circling one of the guests in different directions. The got all flustered and said it was hard to say since we're so alike. That's how it's supposed to be.

Many ladies have tried to tell us apart, but so far, none have succeeded; and that's exactly what we told her.

Then, Haruhi and Marcie walked by, stared, rolled their eyes and continued.

"What a dumb game." Haruhi muttered, and Marcie nodded in agreement.

We glanced at each other and went over to them. Time to prove I was right. Sorry Kaoru. This is just how it is. Not even our own mother can tell us apart and that's just something we'll have to accept. But it's not like we really care anyway...as long as we have eachother, we have our true family.

" **What? You two have a problem with it**?" We said, draping our arms round their shoulders.

"Not really. I just don't understand why the two of you are so popular." Haruhi deadpanned, uninterested, and I heard. Marcie whisper "oooh, burn!" Under her breath.

" **That's not very nice**." We whined, and they rolled their eyes at us, though they were both smiling. The thing is, after what Kaoru said last night, I've been wondering if it's the same for Haruhi. I can remember at least one or two occasions where she said my name, but I assumed them to be guesses, or she had simply looked at the partings of our hair. But thanks to our hats, she wouldn't be able to use that trick today if I asked her.

"Apparently, you don't understand the merits of having a pair of twins as members of the host club." Kaoru began. Then we explained why we are - in fact - a valuable asset to the club.

After a couple more minutes of flirting with guests, Tamaki appeared with a laptop and screeched something about giving us control of the website and how we didn't take it seriously which is a lie because "We take our job _very_ seriously, Tono." I told him, and Kaoru nodded.

"Yeah! And last night we worked on it till' dawn!" He finished triumphantly.

Tono's eyebrow twitched and he continued to yell. "IS _THIS_ WHAT YOU WORKED SO HARD TO CREATE?!" He flashed us the screen of the laptop while smacking the keyboard repeatedly. The screen showed the masterpiece we didn't actually work that hard on, I mean, how hard is it to photoshop Haruhi's head onto Tamaki's shirtless body? The only reason it took us till dawn is because Marcie came in while we were working on it and asked us to help her get a book down from one of the 'high shelves' in the library. The one she wanted was on the tenth shelf up. The struggles of someone who is shorter than Haruhi, everyone.

Honey, Mori and some guests gathered around the laptop to look at our work.

"You look great, Haru-chan!" Honey-senpai complemented as Mori and one or two of the guests nodded in agreement while Marcie rolled around on the floor laughing and Kyoya couldn't care less.

We then had to explain to Tamaki that the picture was photoshopped, and he told us what a waste of skills it was, and did we 'have no shame?'. Then he asked to photoshop her into a few dresses from a magazine.

" **Why don't you just ask her to put it on**?" We told him. We need to get Marcie to play the game! We don't have time to assist you with your perverted fantasies, Tono! After Haruhi denied Tamaki's request about the dress (I mean seriously, what did he expect her to say?!) she came over with Marcie to lecture us (though the blonde stayed silent with a look that suggested she was still internally laughing).

No more weird (flattering*) pictures of her, do we understand, what are the two of them to us, anyway?

"I **sn't it obvious? You're our toys. Duh**." We told them.

They both backed up and deadpanned. "...say what?"

After explaining to them what we meant, Haruhi's eyebrow twitched in irritation while Marcie just let out that type of laughter that said 'ha-ha you're kidding right?'

"You've gotta be kidding." Marcelline said with a nervous smile.

"We're not your damn toys, okay?!" Haruhi fumed.

Then Nekozawa just...appeared(?) through a crack in the door and started trying to sell the black magic club's curse dolls and merchandise.

"Why is he talking to us through a crack in the door?" Haruhi asked.

"Was that door even there before?" Marcie added.

Kaoru and I shrugged. How should we know?

Then Kyoya explained how Nekozawa-senpai likes to hide and is basically an emo. Then Tamaki said that the girls should stay away from him because if they did they'd end up getting cursed and blah, blah, blah.

"Do you have any proof?" Haruhi asked skeptically.

"Yes!" He yelled triumphantly. "It happened during final exams at the end of the last school year. Ooooh, I feel terrified just talking about it!"

Then he told us this crappy story about how he was apparently cursed after stepping on Belzenef, Nekozawa's puppet.

Honey-senpai thought it was scary, Haruhi didn't believe him and Kyoya explained why none of the 'curses' Tamaki mentioned were logical.

"No! It's a curse! I know because three days later I woke up and my legs were as heavy as lead! Just how do you explain that?!" He cried.

Kyoya sighed. "Your legs were heavy because you ran a marathon the day before, remember?"

Then Nekozawa went on about how we shouldn't underestimate the power of his cat puppet, Belzenef.

The mood was too depressing for us, so we tried to liven it up with some puns.

"Wow; this guy really is dark, in more ways than one!" I said, Marcelline turned to face me with a faint smile and a raised eyebrow. Kaoru noticed too, and pulled a torch from his pocket. Where he got it from-we may never know.

"Supposedly he hates bright lights?"

"Let's see what he thinks of this!" We shone the light in Nekozawa-senpai's face and he dashed from the room; back out that weird door that wasn't there.

"YOU MURDERERS!" He cried, slamming the door behind him.

Kaoru and I then sat down at a table by the window. The club is so booorrriiinnggg todaayyyyy.

Then we got an idea.

" **Haruhi~ We have a favour to ask**."

Haruhi sighed. "What?"

"Next time we get a day off-"

"-can we come over to your place to hang out?" We'd been banned from going into Marcie's room after hiding in various places in there to jump out and scare her when she walked in. Not being aloud in her room made us wonder what Haruhi's is like.

"Why would you want to do that?" Haruhi asked skeptically.

" **We're curious. We want to see where you live**." We told her.

She stared at us for a minute with narrowed eyebrows and a suspicious expression. "No way."

We pouted. " **Awe, pretty please**?"

"No way!" She repeated, more insistently. "You guys'll just make fun of me." She added before mock-pouting.

Marcie POV

" **No matter how much we beg you**?" They continued, wearing pouts of their own. Haruhi crossed her arms firmly and turned away from them.

"No. Way." She repeated. Then, Tamaki appeared with host magic and said that he, too has been thinking about paying his daughter a visit.

"No way in hell, senpai." Haruhi sighed. Irritated with having to repeat herself so many times.

Tamaki whined. "But Marcie's allowed to go!" He pointed out, literally (by pointing at me). I stuck my tongue out at him triumphantly.

Haruhi put an arm around my shoulder to prove her own point. "Because she's my _friend_!"

"We're you're friends too though!" He shot back; I piped up, wrapping my own arm around Haruhi's shoulder. "Not really. I think this is more a case of Stockholm syndrome*." I teased. Haruhi laughed and agreed.

I saw the twins stop suddenly, as if they'd just remembered something. I was just about to ask if they were alright before they both got into poses in front of us.

" **Let's settle this with a game**!" They chanted mischievously. " **If you two can't pick which one is Hikaru, the penalty is us coming over to Haruhi's house with Marcie this Friday.** " Ohhh. Now I understand.

Wait...but-"How come I have to play if you're only going round Haruhi's house?" I whined. Why am I involved in this?

Haruhi shot me a glare. "Oh, thanks a lot!" She said, rolling her eyes. OH NO! SHE BROUGHT OUT THE SARCASM.

"Fine, fine, I'll play." I spluttered desperately, not wanting her to be mad at me. I turned to the tweeds; barely having to fully look at them to know who was who.

I lifted my arm and pointed to the tweed on the right. "This one is Kaoru." I stated, confidently. They both looked taken aback for a moment and exchanged glances before holding up their arms in an 'X' formation and making a buzzer sound.

" **Uh-oh! You got it wrong! Now it's Haruhi's turn**." They chorused, masking their surprise.

Haruhi and I raised a brow as the tweeds switched places a ton of times at an attempt to confuse us.

"No, she/I was right-" we said in unison, both raising an arm to the tweed now on the left. "This one is Kaoru-" then we switched to the left. "and this one is Hikaru." I firmly crossed my arms and triumphantly took in the scene before me.

A small group of guests was surrounding us as the twins stared at us in amusement and shock; as if they weren't even sure whether to be happy or not that we'd chosen right.

 _Hikaru & Kaoru POV_**

How. How did they do it? _Told you so_. No, you told me that Marcie knew. Not Haruhi. _Still told you so_. Okay, okay. We'll just ask them how they could tell us apart when we go to Haruhi's house this use the Friday. _But they guessed right, remember? So we can't go over to her house._ Oh...right. _We can still use that script we wrote, though._ Yeah! We worked on it until dawn, after all. _Now we just need to find an opportunity to fit it into the conversation._

 _Third Person POV_

A guest asked Haruhi and Marcelline were able to tell the Hitachiin brothers apart. Marcie stepped back and let Haruhi explain, since she thought her reason would be obvious to the twins.

"Hmm..How can I put this?." The brunette thought aloud. "It's kind of difficult to explain, but Hikaru's speech and actions make him come across more mischievous than Kaoru." She explained, with no offended intended.

The jittery*** guests around them quieted down at the twins just stared at her, their expressions seemingly blank. Then Kaoru slowly started to laugh. His brother looked over at him with a faint glare. "S-sorry Hikaru, I don't mean to laugh!" Kaoru defended, still laughing.

Hikaru huffed and put his fists on his hips (sassy). "Well I don't know what's so funny. I'm honest, I speak my mind and I don't hold back!" He declared. Marcelline smirked to herself. The last two points were definitely true, but the honesty one was a huge variation that depended on his mood. Sometimes he lied, and sometimes he was painfully honest. She thought that was all he was going to say on the matter, but apparently he felt the need to add: "It's sneaky people like Kaoru who are the real trouble makers."

Kaoru stopped laughing at this, and slowly turned to his brother. Both twins' tones and facial expressions had changed completely. "Don't try and turn this on me, Hikaru. After all, I'm the one always going along with all your selfish games." There was a bit of nervous laughter in the room, unsure whether they were joking or not.

However, now the brothers were slowly starting to raise their voices at one another. "I may suggest them, but you're the one who really gets into them, Kaoru. If you hate it so much then why don't you just stop?" Hikaru said, spitting out his brother's name as if it stung.

 _Hikaru & Kaoru POV_

 _Heyyy! That wasn't in the script, Hikaru!_ I'm sorry okay?! I forgot my line and had to improvise. _How are you gonna make it up to me then?_ Oh, uhhh...I guess you can make up a line too. But you have to base it on fact. _Are you saying that was a fact?!_ But you do enjoy our games though... _Yeah, I do._

 _"_ Because I'd hate to see you make an ass of yourself in front of everyone! It was your idea to call them out toys, but I noticed you were quick to make a pass at Haruhi!****Admit it, you're actually in love with Haruhi, aren't you?" Kaoru shot back in defence.

Wha-HEY! _VENGEANCE IS MINE!_ Godammit Kaoru. _MUA HA HA HA_.

 _Third Person POV_

Tamaki popped up from behind the nearby sofa and let out a gasp of alarm and Hikaru stared at his brother in shock, with a faint blush coating his cheeks. "You've got it all wrong, Kaoru! Man, you're such a freaking idiot!" Hikaru blurted out desperately.

"Yeah! There are some things in this world that must never be said!" Tamaki cried.

"Why would I fall for her? She looks like a tanuki!" Hikaru added, and Tamaki and Marcie jumped up in defence of the brunette.

"For your information, tanuki's are adorable!" Marcie yelled.

"How dare you call her a raccoon dog!" Tamaki echoed.

Then Renge made her appearance and said how it's awesome that Haruhi is in a love triangle. Then Tamaki reminded her about her apparent love for said 'tanuki' but she defended herself by saying she didn't mind him having a homosexual relationship on the side.

 _Marcie POV_

After saying they were meanies for calling her an otaku, she backed up with a huff as the twins continued their argument.

"You're the one who always crawls into my bed at night!" Hikaru spat. I know that's true because I can hear them moving about since our rooms aren't that far apart.

"I only do that because you look lonely! I wouldn't choose to sleep in your bed, you idiot!" Kaoru defended.

"Who are you calling an idiot? You're the one who sucks at math!" Hikaru yelled.

"Oh yeah? Well you're failing your foreign languages class, you big dummy!" Kaoru shot back.

"The way you grind your teeth is deafening!"

"At least I don't toss and turn so much that I fall out of bed!" I've actually heard Hikaru falling out of bed a couple times. It's painfully funny every time.

"Sex Pixie!"

"Sicko!"

" **YOUR MAMA WEARS TOO MUCH MAKEUP**!" But...they have...the same-

" **THATS IT, WE'RE OVER**!" They both cried before stomping off. Crap. Did they just have a break-up?

* * *

 _Raise one hand to the sky;  
_

 _lift them both, lift them high_

* * *

 **Yay. Update. I've also recently become obsessed with 'The Walking Dead' fics so I'm thinking of maybe doing a story on that? Maybe Marcie and Michelle can be OC characters, ooh. Or shall I just make a new OC. Or shall I not make a walking dead fic at all? Idk, tell me what you think in a review/pm plz?**

* * *

*Stockholm syndrome

noun

1\. feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim towards a captor.

**Normal is Hikaru, Italics is Kaoru, bold is both.

***Is 'jittery' a word?

****Has anyone noticed that in the anime Kaoru says 'you were quick to make a pass at her' as in HER as in FEMALE. He just dropped a major hint to all the guests who are still in the room and no one cared?!


	13. (13) TTF! (Part 2)

**Disclaimer: I don't know why I have to even say this, but I don't own ohshc. If I did, think I'd be here on a fanfiction site? HELL NAH! I'd be over in Tokyo making a season two in this bitch.**

 **You're welcome.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: The twins fight! (Part 2)**

After all the drama at school, Hikaru had asked Haruhi to come over and help him with his foreign languages homework; because normally 'that damn Kaoru' would help, but obviously that wasn't going to happen at the moment

She would have said no, but then she saw the pleading face of Marcelline and realised that the blonde would have to deal with both of them at home too, since she lived with them. Haruhi then agreed to help Hikaru as a way of keeping an eye on him so that he couldn't argue with his brother until she left. As soon he turned away, she was immediately glomped by said model with cries of 'thank you!' Repeated eight times. Maybe nine.

She lost count.

During the car ride home, both twins sat by a window with the two girls between them. It was awkward and silent, but at least they weren't arguing. As soon as they arrived, each girl was grabbed by a twin and dragged off somewhere with barely enough time for a quick goodbye.

Haruhi was dragged off by Hikaru to the library, since she was tutoring him; and Marcelline was dragged off by Kaoru to the twins' shared bedroom, since Hikaru was with Haruhi he wanted someone to keep him company.

When the two arrived, Kaoru slammed the door angrily and plopped down on the bed with a huff while Marcie sat awkwardly on the floor next to the foot of the bed.

She wasn't used to seeing the kind, mature Kaoru so pissed. It was a combination of scary and cute at the same time.

His eyebrows were furrowed, eyes narrowed and his mouth was in a firm pout; but he had puffed out his cheeks, so he kinda looked like an orange hamster that was pissed cuz it's owner wasn't paying enough attention to it.

Like I said, scary angry attitude, cute angry face.

He caught her staring at him and the pout increased, causing the cuteness to increase too.

"What?" He snapped.

Cuteness decreasing...

He sighed and his features softened slightly. "...sorry." And he flashed her a small yet effective smile.

Cuteness increasing.

"It's okay, you're just angry." She reassured. "So, what do you wanna do?"

Kaoru looked up sheepishly as he realised he had just dragged the girl along with him without knowing what his excuse was going to be. 'I dunno, I just wanted to hang out with you.'

"Uhh...I don't know, I need a new parter for the calculus homework." He replied, scratching the back of his neck.

"I'm guessing Haruhi will go with Hikaru so I can help, if you want." She offered. The blonde had originally planned to pair up with Haruhi herself, but thought that she and the older twin were cute together, and therefore didn't mind switching if it meant they could spend some alone time together. What? They're her OTP.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." He replied, getting up and offering his hand to Marcie, pulling her to her feet when she took it.

As they walked down the hallway, Kaoru pulled out a small black remote with a large, red button on the middle and a small, white button in the bottom left corner. The remote was also small, and fit comfortably in the palm of his hand.

He held the white button down before lifting the remote to his lips and speaking into it.

"This is Kaoru, could someone please bring mine and Marcie's school bags to the dining room? Thanks." He then released the button and slipped the remote back into his pocket.

"What the hell was that?" The blonde asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled childishly at her. "I don't know what it's called, but it's a quicker way for us to connect with the staff instead of walking around looking for someone for ages. You just hold down the white button and it acts as a walkie talkie with the nearest maid or butler."

She laughed. He decided, randomly, that he liked the sound of her laugh. It was infectious, and he found himself chuckling slightly.

"What does the red button do?" She asked.

"Call security." He replied, simply.

She was silent for a moment. "Why would you need to call security?"

His features softened in a warm, soft smile that reminded Marcie of the face that Haruhi had told her she made while daydreaming; as if he was lost in a distant memory.

"Just incase someone tries to break in and steal anything." He replied, thinking of a previous maid with long, straight black hair who used to be able to make up the most amazing stories about how she was a very skilled criminal. The boys had admired her imagination, at the time.

"Helloooo? Anyone home in there?" Marcelline said, raising an eyebrow as she stood on her tip toes to knock gently on his forehead with a childish grin.

Seeing his eyes come back into focus to stare at her, her smile brightened slightly as she lowered herself off from her tip toes. "You spaced out for a second there." She giggled as they continued to walk down the hallway past a bunch of paintings.

She stopped in front of a certain one with a shiny plaque beneath it and a blue award ribbon pinned to the top right corner. It was a painting, and the plaque read: Kaoru's winning picture in the 5th grade art contest!

The painting was surprisingly good for an 11 year old; it was a portrait of Hikaru and himself, so the contest was obviously to recreate a family photo. A good way to be sure that there was no cheating.

"You painted this?" Marcie asked, walking over to the painting and resting a hand on the frame in awe.

"Uh, yeah." Kaoru replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"It's really good! How long did it take you to do?" She asked, looking at him over her shoulder with a smile that made his heart skip a beat or two.

"Not too long, just a day or two. I worked on it whenever I could." He told her.

"You must have really wanted to win? I take it Hikaru didn't help you?" She asked, looking back at the painting and running her fingers over a few places where the paint had dried in lumps.

"No."

"To which question?"

"Both. Hikaru and I did separate paintings, and although I did want someone to approve of mine, I wasn't too bothered about actually winning."

"...Why only approval? Why didn't you want to win?

"Because I wanted Hikaru to win. But approval meant that someone approved of something that just Kaoru did on his own."

A twinge of empathy wrapped itself around Marcie's heart, as she remembered having similar thoughts of her own, once. He stopped the sentence there, but they both knew there was more to it.

'Someone approved of something that Kaoru did on his own.'

So maybe one day, someone will approve of just Kaoru on his own, without Hikaru, too. And one day, when he's ready, he'll step out of his brothers shadow to be welcomed and loved as an individual, not as a pair.

Deciding to change the depressing atmosphere, Kaoru then asked a question that had been on his mind for a while.

After studying for a good hour or two, Haruhi and Hikaru decided to take a break. They were sitting in silence drinking the lemonade generously provided by one of the many staff.

Hikaru decided to brake the awkward silence by asking a question that had been on his mind for a while.

"How can you tell us apart?"

Marcelline looked over at him with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, as if to say 'seriously?' like that was the easiest question in the world. "Didn't Haruhi already tell you how?"

"Yeah, but I wanna know how you know. For example..." he trailed off to think for a moment. "How long have you been able to tell us apart?"

"Since around my first time meeting you."

Haruhi sighed. She knew it had been bothering him. But if he didn't want her to get it right then he shouldn't have asked her to play in the first place. "I already told you how."

"Yeah, but how specifically. How long have you been able to tell us apart?"

"Since my first day, obviously." Haruhi replied simply.

"What!? But...how-?" Hikaru stammered.

"I knew as soon as I heard you answer your names in the register. Not only were your voices different but you answered way too quickly. That told me 'they're were both lying and Hikaru is bad at it'. It became more obvious as the lesson went on because Kaoru looked like he was struggling. That told me 'Kaoru struggles at calculus'. Little things like that. Then as I got to know you both, I realised that your personalities are different, and you carry yourselves differently aswell."

Hikaru was speechless. A rare thing for him to be, but he was speechless nonetheless.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I could tell straight away."

"By our voices, right?"

"No. Well, yeah that helped but that's not the main reason."

There was a pause.

"Why, then?"

"You remember me telling you about Michelle, right?" She asked, taking out her

Kaoru nodded. In reply, Marcie opened the pouch and pushed the ID card aside; then pulled out a small picture which she handed to him.

"I bet you'll be able to tell which is me and which is her." She tested.

Kaoru looked down at the photo in his hands. It was of two (almost) identical girls who were smiling cheerfully at the camera with their arms around eachother.

They were both blonde with blue eyes, except one's were abnormally bright like ice, and the other's wasn't exactly a _dark_ blue, but deep; like the ocean.

They parted their hair the same way he and his brother did, and the one with ocean eyes had slightly curlier hair.

He pointed to the girl with ice eyes. "This one's you-" he began, then switched to the other. "-and this one's her." He stated simply.

She nodded and asked how he could tell, to which he answered with all the obvious factors. Their partings, their eyes, etc.

Marcie then asked one of the passing maids the first question, and she responded that it was simply impossible - the girls in the picture were identical.

Kaoru stared after the maid in confusion as she went back to work.

"The differences may seem obvious to you, but that's because you've seen all the same differences already with your own twin, therefore it's easier for you to spot them than it would be for other people." Marcie explained, sliding the picture back into the pouch and putting it back in her blazer pocket.

"Get my point?" She finished triumphantly. Kaoru nodded, smiling at her childishness before hearing static in his pocket. He took out the remote again and held the white button down.

"Yes?" He spoke into it. A voice responded through the many small holes in the back of the remote.

"Your bags are ready, but we have put them to the side as the maids are beginning to set the table for dinner. Perhaps you would prefer to study after your meal?"

Kaoru huffed, presumably at the thought of having to see his brother. "That would be helpful, thank you." Then he put the remote back in his pocket and turned to the short blonde next to him. "Are you hungry?"

"Hmm. Not really, I guess but I can still eat." She replied with a shrug. He smiled. "I'm not too hungry either I suppose. Let's skip then." He said before pulling out the remote to say that the two of them wouldn't be present for dinner.

She looked up at him. "Are you sure you don't mind?" She asked, and he nodded before redirecting his smile to face her.

"Not at all. I have a favour to ask you, anyway."

Meanwhile, Hikaru was walking Haruhi home after they finished studying. He had offered that she at least stay for dinner, but Haruhi politely declined, saying that her father wanted her home soon anyway.

On his way home, he stopped by a nearby commoner store and bought two bottles of different coloured hair dye for some reason (wink wink nudge nudge).

When Hikaru got home, he heard a very loud singing voice coming from his bedroom. He could hear running water in the background and rolled his eyes as he realised that it was Kaoru singing in the shower again.

He decided to have a little fun, and walked into Marcie's room next door.

She didn't hear him come in since she was wearing headphones and watching a YouTube video. Why she liked that David Dobrik vlogger, he would never know. He'd asked her before, but she simply said things like "Because David and Liza are my OTP." Or "Alex is hot and he breaks tables.". She truly worries him sometimes.

He tapped her shoulder and put a finger to his lips when she turned around, signalling for her to be quiet. Marcie removed her headphones with a confused expression but nodded and followed him anyway.

As soon as the two teens got to the hallway, she could hear faint singing coming from the twins' room. She sent Hikaru another confused glance as he opened the door and led her inside.

They walked over to the bathroom door where it dawned on her that she could hear the shower running on the side, as well as the voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

Hikaru plopped down in a cross legged position by the door and pressed his ear to it with a wide grin while beckoning for her to do the same.

She did so eagerly, ignoring the slow blush that crept across her cheeks as she heard Kaoru's soft voice drift through the room from under the door.

Her face only grew redder when she realised what song he was singing.

 _I'll wake you up with some, breakfast in bed;_

 _I'll make you coffee with, a kiss on your head;_

 _I'll take the kids to school;_

 _Wave them goodbye;_

 _And I'll thank my lucky stars, for that night_

She remembered telling him how she liked that song while the pair danced at the host club's party a while ago. To be honest, she was a little surprised that he remembered, let alone decided to sing it in the shower.

She paused. 'Wait...' she thought, 'he's in the SHOWER?!' Now her face was completely red, and Marcie jabbed Hikaru who had been laughing in amusement at seeing her face change colour.

He was so busy trying to silence his laughter, and she was too busy freaking out about listening to him while he was in the SHOWER, neither of the eavesdropping teens noticed the singing die down to be replaced with humming as the shower was turned off and rummaging could be heard front the other side of the door followed by footsteps coming towards it.

Kaoru loosely wrapped a white towel around his waist before he opened the door of his and his brother's shared bathroom after a peaceful shower.

He looked down in alarm at nearly tripping over the model and said brother who were crouched down just in front of the door.

He stopped and stared, glad about making the rare decision to wear a towel.

They stopped and stared, her face growing ever redder while Hikaru's laughter increased.

"Umm..?" (Kaoru)

"Uh...hi?" (Marcie)

Hikaru said nothing and watched his friends' faces continue becoming deeper shades of red as if it was a competition. He giddily looked around the room at the red curtains and lamp, along with other red furniture, to see if there was any possibility of them matching.

They just stayed there. Staring. It was hilarious. Marcie's eyes suddenly widened as she realised not only had she been caught, but she had proceeded to stare at him.

The blonde hurriedly averted her eyes and babbled something about Hikaru bringing her there and blah blah blah she would be in her room if they needed her.

Their bedroom door closed. Kaoru deadpanned and turned to his brother who shrugged and merely laughed harder, getting up from his spot on the floor.

After a small argument about how Hikaru was a jerk, Kaoru got dressed while Hikaru made his way to the model's room next door with the hair dye in hand.

After he knocked, Marcelline slowly opened the door to revealing the many tissues that had been stuffed up her bleeding(?) nose*. He laughed at her as she huffed and shot him a half-hearted glare. "What is it?" She asked. He held up the box to her and she peered curiously at the label. "'Flamingo pink temporary dye'?" She read aloud. "Going through a bit of a rebel phase, are we?" She teased.

He laughed and shook his head. "I just don't want to be mistaken for Kaoru anymore. It's sickening." He replied casually, rolling his eyes. Marcie's eyebrows creased in concern for the twins. Personally, she didn't understand how they could fight over something as simple as someone's opinion. What is this, some kind of fandom war? "Can you give me a hand with this? I'd do it on my own but it would be easier if someone helped." He asked. She sighed and nodded as Hikaru walked in.

Not long after, the now pink-headed twin left to be replaced with the still hinge one who held a similar box of dye, except this colour was blue. By the time both twins' hair had been colourfully dyed, it was nearly midnight. And Marcie still had to finish the calculus homework with Kaoru. She sighed. Tonight was going to be a long night...

* * *

 _And we'll cut through the darkness, make it go!_

* * *

 **Kaoru singing in the shower was the thing I was talking about adding btw. You're welcome. Also, yes. Ik everyone's worked it out already so there's no harm in confirming that yes, Honey-senpai _is_ Marcelline's brother. Ik a ton of you are peeved that they haven't worked it out yet. Mostly because I get reviews and pm's saying it. So the reveal chapter is coming soon. This chapter was a non-plot because I wanted to include more Marcie x Kaoru fluff, and also to make up for the fact that next chapter will mostly be plot :(**

 **Im sorry, Ik a lot of people don't like plot chapters but the one after that will be non-plot, or, depending on how long the plot one ends up being I might add it at the end or whatevs :D**

 **One more thing, I've pre-written the chapter with Marcie's first chapter. Like, literally, it's been done for ages XD**

 **You're welcome.**

* * *

*;))))


	14. (14) TTF! (Part 3)

**I tried writing another fairy tail story but that isn't going very well so I'm going to be putting my focus on my more successful stories from now on (like this one ^_^). Also, 30 FAVOURITES AND 45 FOLLOWS AAAAA Thank you :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: The twins fight! (Part 3)**

 _Third Person POV_

Haruhi had arrived to homeroom first thing that morning, like always, and Marcelline arrived shortly after her. The blonde plopped down at her desk next to the brunette, who then noticed the dark rings under her friend's eyes.

"Marcie, are you alright?" Haruhi asked hesitantly, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. Marcelline loudly yawned and nodded, saying that she was fine, just tired. Haruhi was about to lecture the girl about not staying up all night watching The Gabbie Show or Kubz Scouts videos again when a farmiliar voice called their names at the classroom door.

"Hey Haruhi, Marcie."

The girls in question turned, along with the one or two other students in the class, to face the voice that belonged to one of the twins. "Good morning." He said in a happy tone, despite his facial expression being completely blank. He waved at them nonetheless and sat down on Haruhi's right.

Haruhi just stared at the boy in shock. "H-Hikaru...what on _earth_ happened to your _hair_? Why's it dyed _pink_?!" She said, ignoring the 'it's 'flamingo' pink, actually' that Marcie whispered before flopping her head back down on the desk.

The mentioned twin just smiled. "'Cause pink suits me! Don't you think it looks cute? From now on, I'm the pink haired twin. I didn't wanna be mistaken for that Kaoru anymore, ya know?" He explained, fiddling with one of the strands that had escaped from its prison of hair gel hell. Haruhi looked over at the blonde model who had started falling asleep. 'So they made her dye their hair for them...? Then that means Kaoru probably-' She began to think to herself before being interrupted by another call of 'good morning'.

"Good morning Haruhi, Marcie." The younger twin greeted politely with the same flat expression and small wave that his brother had done moments prior. Marcelline flicked her bright blue eyes up at him and rose the hand she was resting her head on in a salute-type wave before letting it flop back down to the desk.

"So...Kaoru's the blue twin?" Haruhi stated bluntly, staring at the younger twin as he walked over and sat in between her and the blonde. Well, tried to. While Kaoru was saying something about having a 'horrible dream', Hikaru leaned over and kicked his brother's chair away, causing him to fall with a thump onto the wooden floor of the classroom. Hikaru held back a snigger while Kaoru sent him a glare before reaching past Haruhi and pulling Hikaru's chair leg, causing the older Hitachiin to join him on the ground.

The brothers exchanged glares and threw millions of random things at each other; chairs, tables, Honey-senpai, books, Usa-chan, plantpots, etc. The rest of their class mates stared while the two girls beside them just sweat dropped.

When the first few classes were finally over, Haruhi and Marcelline followed the twins to keep an eye on them. Well, Haruhi was keeping an eye on them, Marcie was on her back like a koala, except more heavy, no grey fur, and sleeping. By the time Haruhi finally caught up with the brightly coloured twins, they were already at the ordering counter yelling at the two cooks who were slowly backing away.

"I'll have the A lunch...No! Give me the B pasta and the D salad." They turned to glare at eachother before raising their voices.

"I'll take the F capellini with the barbarie duck! Hold on, make it a foie gras in periguex sauce!" They turned to glare again before yelling at each other and storming off.

"STOP COPYING ME, WHY CANT YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

"Amazing..." Marcelline mused, the noise having woken her up. Haruhi nodded in agreement and noted how the pair of them had perfect unison, even while fighting. Just then, the door was dramatically slammed open to reveal the remaining members of the host club standing in subtle poses in the cafeteria doorway.

"I was wondering what all the fuss was about. I can't believe the two of you are still fighting! You're a disgrace to the host club!" Tamaki declared, walking into the now silenced room. Multiple cries erupted throughout the cafeteria; 'Oh, look who it is', 'I love them!', 'it's rare to see them all together like that outside the host club', etcetera, etcetera. As Mori, Kyoya and Honey followed Tamaki, Honey slipped over to where the two brothers were arguing and stood between them, holding a large strawberry cake in his hands that definitely did not appear out of no where and was totally there the whole time.

"We've had enough of this, you're both to blame for this fight!" He said, looking between them both. "Hika-chan and Kao-chan, I want you to make up and go halfsies on this cake, kay~?" Then his happy expression faltered slightly as he lowered the cake in front of him. "But, I want a piece too, so we're going to have to go thirdsies..." the Lolita continued as the twins stoic expressions became more irritated. "We're not going to be able to split the strawberry on top, though. What should we do?" He asked despite not looking at either of them; his attention purely on the cake in front of him that he clearly would have had to himself otherwise. "Maybe I should just take it, since strawberries _are_ my favourite..." then his face lit up as he remembered something with an 'oh!'. "I forgot to ask - Hika-chan, Kao-chan, do you like strawberries?"

At this point, the irritated aura around the Hitachiin twins was near threatening, and Mori walked over to them. He picked up his cousin, blankly telling him that he was just making things worse and to leave them alone before walking away.

Meanwhile, Tamaki had glided over to his 'daughter' and her friend. "Oh, hello! I wasn't expecting to see you two here."

"Well I was worried about those two, so I just followed them here without thinking," Haruhi explained, using her head to gesture toward Hikaru and Kaoru who were now sulking in opposite corners of the room. "Marcie just didn't get any sleep last night, so I carried her so she take a nap." She said, turning to the blonde in question with a pout. Marcie sweat dropped, adding that the two of them brought their own home-made box lunches and therefore normally ate in their classroom.

"A...boxed...lunch..." Tamaki echoed in awe. The girl's gave each other a fed-up glance before leaving him there (pretty much in the middle of the room) in his own little world to find a place to sit.

"Hey! Haruhi, Marcie, wanna sit with me?" Hikaru called to them, waving them over to the empty table he was sitting at. They gladly walked over, Haruhi sitting on Hikaru's right and Marcie next to her, two seats from the edge.

He stared at the small boxes in front of them with interest. "So, what did you guys bring for lunch?" He asked.

"Yesterday's leftovers. And a rolled omelette." Haruhi replied flatly. Marcie had just brought some of the many leftover pancakes from breakfast that morning. Maybe they weren't as warm, but a pancake is a pancake; and pancakes are good.

Hikaru hummed in reply before asking if one of them wouldn't mind switching with him since he ended up getting something he didn't like after trying to get something different from what p Kaoru ordered. Marcie insisted that Haruhi make the swap, since the brunette had yet to taste 'rich people food' whereas Marcie was now able to eat it everyday. Said brunette sighed and slid Hikaru's tray over to her as she handed him her boxed lunch. "Fine." She huffed.

Haruhi stared at the tray, unsure what to eat first. She looked over to Marcie with a face that said 'you pick, I can't be assed', and the blonde gladly picked up a spoon and dipped into some kind of weird jelly-lookalike pudding and passed it to her. "This stuff is amazing! I can't remember what it's called though..." Marcie told her as Haruhi stared at the food for a moment before sighing again and eating it.

Almost immediately, her blank, bored expression melted away and she seemed to sparkle with a look of something like childish fascination. Marcelline and Hikaru couldn't help but smile in amusement at their friend's cuteness. Tamaki also appeared out of no where again to comment on how good the food was. Then he tried to trade his own lunch for 'Hikaru's boxed lunch' as a 'reward'.

"No way." The pink twin deadpanned with a subtle glare.

"Oh, come on! Trade with me!" Tamaki pleaded, only to be rejected again while Kaoru sat down on Marcie's left. He leaned forward slightly to see Haruhi past the blonde in between them.

"It's good, right Haruhi?" He asked, smiling as the brunette was snapped from her daze to whip her head round to look at him and nod her head vigorously. He let out a soft chuckle before noticing how Hikaru had Haruhi's boxed lunch in front of him. ' _No fair, how come_ he _gets to try a commoner's lunch_?' He thought enviously, sending a subtle glare towards his brother. He also noticed that Marcie still had hers...

"Marcie, don't you want some too? I thought you liked that stuff."

Marcelline looked at him in surprise, "I do, but I wanted Haruhi to try it." She explained, smiling at him.

"Well, I just so happened to get some as well. I don't really like it though, do you want it?" He asked slyly, casting a subtle sideways glance to his brother and smirking in quiet victory as the blonde's eyes lit up and she gladly accepted the plate.

The spoon was mere inches from her mouth before Kaoru leaned past her and ate it first, then didn't even bother taking the spoon out of his mouth before telling his brother to 'get lost' and 'stop butting in'.

Then Kaoru picked up some kind of weird custard, picked it up and flung full force along the table to hit Tamaki right in the face!

Wait, _Tamaki_?

Hikaru let go of the second year's tie, letting his now yellow face slam down onto the table before yet _another_ throwing match began. The girls between them sighed, picked up their lunches and left. Maybe they _would_ eat in the classroom afterall...

The host club decided against taking guests that day due to not wanting to see the outcome of the two feuding brothers trying to go through with their twincest act in this state. However, the members (apart from said brothers) still gathered in the third music room nonetheless.

* * *

They were all sitting at a long table with Tamaki at the end sitting in a model-type pose. Kyoya was near the middle on the left side with a calculator, trying to work out how much money would be lost from not doing any club activities that day. Honey and Mori were opposite him a few seats down; Honey playing with Usa-chan and Mori watching with a soft smile. Meanwhile Haruhi was looking out the window in a daydream while Marcelline sat next to her and continued her nap.

"Looking at the numbers, if this situation isn't resolved I'm afraid we're gonna have to stop offering our brotherly love package. We're down one pair of loving brothers." Kyoya informed.

Haruhi internally huffed and rolled her eyes. ' _No shit, Sherlock.'_ She thought sarcastically before jumping as the 2nd year said her name.

"Oh, Haruhi I just want you to know that there's no reason for you to feel responsible for this whole ordeal. Although; it _was_ your tactless comment hat started this all in the first place." He...reassured her?

Haruhi sweatdropped as Kyoya went back to his calculator. ' _Obviously he blamed me for all this..._ ' Haruhi assumed.

Marcie suddenly made some kind of snorting noise before sitting up with a yawn and a stretch. Then she sat with her fingers entwined sophisticatedly in front of her as if trying to pretend she'd been paying attention the whole time despite casting a sideways glance to Haruhi with a face that said 'what did I miss?'. Honey didn't seem to notice, and sighed slightly.

"It's weird for Hika-chan and Kao-chan to be fighting like this; it's never happened before." He said, puppeteering Usa-chan around in a cute little dance on the table.

"Haruhi raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You mean they've _never_ fought before?" She asked. The small 3rd year nodded solemnly with a bittersweet smile.

"I've known Hika-chan and Kai-chan we were in since pre-school. We weren't in the same year of course, so I never really got to talk to them, but I remember that the two of them always used to play together." Honey explained.

Tamaki nodded with the same expression. "Yeah, that's true." He said in agreement. "I mean, I've only know the twins since middle school, but they definitely stood out." Tamaki paused in thought. "It seemed like they kept everyone at a distance except each other." He added before turning to the girl's, realising/remembering that they probably didn't understand as well as the rest of them how bad the situation truly was since they hadn't known the twins as long. "Believe it or not, they were ol even more warped back then. Maybe, if you stop and think about it, maybe this fight is a good thing for them. Maybe it means the twins are expanding their horizons a bit. We should just leave them alone and let _them_ work it out." Tamaki explained.

"No way, does Tamaki actually... _not_ want to meddle?!" Marcie mused in fake surprise. Tamaki sent her a look while Haruhi put a hand to her chin in thought, having actually taken her seriously.

"Who knows. Maybe it _is_ a turn for the better." She theorised.

Marcie considered it as well; "But if they've never fought before, won't they need someone to tell them when they've gone too far?"

"You have a point. Even you and me have fought before, but at least we knew when it was time to call it quits and make up." Haruhi nodded in agreement.

Before anyone else could say anything, the twins themselves walked in, still arguing with eachother. Marcie groaned irritatedly and bent forwards in her chair to lay face-down with her top-half on the table. The other hosts couldn't even tell what they were saying anymore, the twins were just _that_ loud. Tamaki sighed loudly in annoyance. "Don't you guys think that it's time to give up all this fighting? It's driving me insane." He whined, flopping his head back in his chair with an exhausted huff.

"Amen to that." Marcie grumbled, raising her hand slightly before dropping back down to the table.

"What'd you say? It's driving _you_ insane?!" Hikaru cried. "You've gotta be kidding me. How do you think _I_ feel? Every time I look in the mirror I see _his_ face! I'm sick and tired of being mistaken for you, Kaoru!" He spat, then he hesitated for a fraction of a second before adding "The truth is, _I hate your guts_!".

The other hosts just sat awkwardly and quietly at the table, unsure what to do. Apart from Mori and Kyoya, they all made some kind of small reaction showing that they were taken aback slightly by what Hikaru had said. Did he really mean that? Or was it just a heat of the moment type thing? They all hoped it was the latter.

Kaoru scowled darkly before rummaging around in his blazer pockets, looking for something while he angrily shot back his reply. "You took the words right out of my mouth! In fact, I hate you _so_ much I bought _this_ : Belzenef the curse doll!" He said, finding what he was looking for and holding it out to his brother in a way so that every one could get a clear view of it. It was a small wooden cat, resembling the small hand puppet normally carried by Nekozawa.

Haruhi and Marcie cast weary glances at eachother while Tamaki gave out a mini shriek and held his hands out in front of him defensively, as if someone was going to throw the doll at him.

"I'm gonna complete the curse, Hikaru. I'm gonna write your name on his back!" Kaoru continued, taking out a pen. "From this day forward, you're going to experience _nothing_ but misfortune and sorrow!" He sneered, scribbling on the doll's back.

Without any warning, Haruhi shot up and stomped over to the twins. She hit them both on the head and snatched the doll away from Kaoru, tossing it over her shoulder for Marcie to catch. "Would you two knock it off already?! What do you think your doing? You don't bring something like _this_ into a petty fight!" She cried, the twins on the floor staring up at her with wide eyes. They'd never seen their 'toy' this mad before. "You're both at fault here but what's really sad is that you're dragging everyone around you into your big mess! Now apologise to eachother; if you don't make up right now, I'll never let you come over to my house! Have I made myself clear?!" She huffed before turning to face Marcie who had been trying to get her attention throughout her little lecture. "What is it, Marcie? What?" She said irritatedly.

The blonde in question flinched at her friend's sharp tone and showed her the doll's back. Haruhi had to squint to read the writing. "...'blank'?" She read it aloud before turning back to the twins and looking at their matching smirks in alarm.

" **So what you're saying is...if we make up, we can come over to your place**?" The twins hummed, getting up and draping themselves around Haruhi.

"Y-you don't mean..." She stammered, turning to Marcie who shrugged with a face gf 'I tried to tell you'. Haruhi sighed and wriggled her way out of the twins' apologies to each other.

"You've gotta be kidding me! You mean you guys were faking it this whole time?!" Honey cried. The twins held their arms out innocently as if to say 'what's wrong with that?'

" **We didn't have anything else to do, we were bored**."

Haruhi and Tamaki were down on their hands and knees. "They totally fooled me..."

"Twins with too much time on their hands...are the devil."

* * *

 _Kaoru POV_

Hikaru and I were sitting at our table with three guests. Two were saying how great it is that we'd made up while a regular of ours, Ijime-san, was playing the 'Which One is Hikaru?' game.

"This one is Hikaru, and this one is Kaoru." She said triumphantly pointing to is both in turn.

"We have a winner!" We cheered, and she clapped in delight.

"So are you two going to keep your wild hair colours even though you've made up? It's much easier to tell the two of you apart now." One of the other girl's said, I recognised her as one of Haruhi's regulars, but sometimes she requested us as well. Her name was Azumi or something, I think. We smiled at her but we were cut off from our reply by two familiar voices speaking in unison.

"Ha. No it isn't."

The Hitachiin brothers turned to face the two female hosts who both wore smirks of subtle victory.

"Today, the _pink_ one is Kaoru and _Hikaru's_ the blue one." Haruhi explained.

"You switched colours for the day, huh?" Marcie added. Then, the two of them linked arms, and I noticed Marcie shoot me a quick knowing glance before the two of them walked away.

I felt Hikaru take hold of my hand, and I looked at him slowly, following his gaze over to a certain brunette.

I wonder, has he realised what's happening? There have always been two separate worlds for me and him; "us" and "every one else"...but...

For the first time, I think people have crossed into our world.

* * *

 _The time to start is now!_

 _And I can show you how_

* * *

 **Yaaaaay :D just so you know, I'm going on holiday to Spain for a week on the 28th of May this year so I won't be able to update for a while but I'll be sure to try and think of some non-plot chapters while I'm there and write them in the notes app for my iPhone like I normally do ;P**

 **Till next time ^_^**


	15. (SS) The Day it All Went Wrong

**Hiyaaa :)**

 **Im going to Spain for the week on the 28th this month (May atm, idk when you're reading this) so I wanted to get a chapter out before I went and I've had this one written up in the notes app in my phone for a while so :P**

 **Enjoy ^_^**

* * *

 **Side Story 1: The day it all went wrong (Part 1?)**

 _Marcie POV (age 5_ _)_

Mama and Pete were arguing again. Their room is right next door to ours, so we could hear everything they said loud and clear. Every hateful word she spat at him, every spiteful comment he shot back.

We couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes, when they argued, Michelle and I would turn in bed to face eachother, and we reach out to cover the other's ears. Tonight, they were too loud. We cried and cried as we covered each other's ears, but we couldn't block out the continuous noise of them yelling. Him hitting. Her crying.

We couldn't take it anymore. We got up, grabbed our pillows and ran off to Mitskuni's room, two doors away.

He sat up straight away as we walked in, proving he hadn't been asleep.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, sleepily.

"Yes. Can we sleep in here?" He gave us a knowing look and got out of bed, walking over to the cupboard where the maids kept all his blankets. We helped him make a fort of pillows and duvets before crawling in and laying out 3 futons side by side together.

" **Love you**." We whispered, one of us on either side of him.

"Love you more." He shot back.

" **How dare you.** " We teased, and he chuckled before saying goodnight to us both.

That was the last time Michelle ever saw him. She slept in late that day, and he was gone by the time she woke up. He'd gone to stay with our uncle for a week, since he wanted to learn to protect himself. And us.

 _Michelle POV_

Things haven't been going well lately. It's been a month since Mother passed away; and Mitskuni still hasn't come back from his visit at our uncle's dojo. Marcie and I over-heard Pete talking on the phone to people, and we didn't really understand what was going on; but it sounded like Mitskuni didn't want to come back. And that he was going to live with our uncle instead. That he didn't feel safe, because of how Pete always hits us.

Pete even tried to send some people over there to try 'persuade' Mitskuni to come back, but Mama wouldn't let him. She'd managed to save one of her children, she wasn't about to let her hard work go to waste.

Anyway, I'm getting carried away.

The next morning, Mummy changed after what he did to her.

You could see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch and hear it in her voice. She wasn't the same, and deep down I knew she'd never come back.

That was the start of everything. The day our picture perfect family started to break down, streak by streak. The day it all went wrong.

* * *

The next day at school was parent's day. Mama was too sick, so we didn't have the heart to ask her, and there was no way on earth we'd ask Pete because...well... _that_ should be obvious.

Instead, we'd decided to risk asking our father one last time. Our _real_ father. I don't think about him much anymore, since I suppose I don't really know him all that well. He had us one day per year - Christmas - every year up until we were 6, but the year after that he didn't show up, and would rarely answer our calls. We weren't surprised though. He was always working, and never had time for us.

We sat in our usual spot (on either side of Haruhi) and listened to the end of her conversation with two other girls.

"I'm sorry your dad can't come to parent's day, Haruhi-chan." Said one, "Yeah, I'm sure he's really cool!" The other added. Then they both scurried off to their awaiting parents. Thats when we sat down and Haruhi gave us both a smile, wave and 'good-morning'.

"Michelle-chan, Marcelline-chan, is your Dad not coming, either?" She asked.

"We're not sure." I began.

"He said he would come and then take us for ice cream, but we don't know if he actually will or not." Marcie finished.

 _Third Person POV_

Later that evening, the Haninozuka twins were sitting on the short wall outside their middle school. If it was up to them, they would have been inside the school instead of outside it in the rain. Too bad the school closed two hours ago.

Today hadn't been all too good for the twins; not only had their father broken his promise to come to parents day, but he had also seemingly forgotten to pick them up from school altogether. They weren't surprised or hurt or anything though, they were used to it by now.

After another hour or so of waiting, they saw Samantha pull up in her limo and she ran out with a huge umbrella. They ran over to her, too and she hugged them both tightly, cursing their dad for forgetting about them and leaving them there to freeze. They'd surely catch colds in the morning.

During the car ride back home, the Haninozuka twins made worried glances at eachother before asking Samantha "Why didn't he come to pick us up?" They all knew that they knew the answer, they were simply hoping for a different explanation. To be told that they were wrong in assuming that's he didn't want to see them, that he'd simply gotten stuck caught up at work like always.

The brown-haired maid's happy smile faltered, and was replaced with an anxious frown. She looked at the small girls through the rear-view mirror. "I think it would be best if you forgot about that heartless fool. I'm sorry girls, but it doesn't look like he's coming."

We sighed and looked out the window. We'd figured as much.

* * *

 **I'm sorry this is so short, but it _is_ only a side story so ;-; **

**anyways, see you in a week :D I'm gonna try and write a non-plot chapter while I'm there (in the notes app) so wish me luck that I have enough time to write it XD**


	16. (15) Marcie's First Gym Class!

**I GOT A TANNNNN YEET**

* * *

 **Chapter 16 : Marcie's first gym class**

 _Marcie POV_

There came a knock on my bedroom door.

I groaned loudly into my pillow. Why am I only disturbed when I'm having a _good_ dream? Why can't anyone wake me up when I'm having a nightmare or something? 'Oh, you're in a land where everything is made of sweets?! Gurl, wake the fuck up you can't have that; but wait, you're now in the fiery pits of hell where demons are trying to eat your toes? Nah, go back to sleep.'

There came another knock on the door.

"Come in." I drawled, barely finding the will to sit up in bed.

The tweed's identical maids strolled in with happy faces. "Time to get up, Miss." They chorused.

"What's in the bag?" I asked, eyeing up said object which was held with one hand by each maid.

"Your new gym uniform, of course! Are you excited?" They replied eagerly.

I groaned loudly and flopped back down into sleep position. I forgot it's Monday. My first gym class. "Oh yes, very excited." I replied sarcastically. Oh whoopdie-doo. I get to wear blue elastic underwear infront of a bunch of sweaty boys. So excited. Please note the unnecessary amount of sarcasm.

"Aw, but you'll look so cute in it!"

"Why don't you try it on now so we can see if it fits?"

"Um, not right now. I think I should get ready for school before I'm late." I replied politely, as a hint that they should go away.

"Will you need assistance getting ready?" They asked simultaneously.

"No thank you, I think I'm capable." I replied. Another hint that they should leave.

"Well, we'll go put this by your school bag for you." They said, gesturing to the small bag as they left the room, finally leaving me in peace.

Reluctantly, I slid off my bed and crawled over to the walk-in wardrobe before using the door handle to hoist myself up and walk inside to hunt for my uniform.

Since I had gym, I decided I wouldn't leave my hair down like I had been for the past few days.

Buns fall down easily and plaits always whack me/other people in the face when I turn around, so I settled with two low bunches.

It took a while, but I eventually found the dining room and sat down for my breakfast. And what seemed to be breakfast for 50 other people. Honestly, the amount of breakfast food on this table could be portioned into breakfast for the rest of my life. And my children's lives. And depending on how many kids I have, probably my grandchildren too.

Hash browns, toast (with multiple toppings), croissants, waffles, pancakes, bacon and eggs, scrambled eggs, and so on. Times 50. Maybe more.

You'd think I'd know my way around their house by now, but I still have trouble even finding my bed room on certain nights.

Hikaru and Kaoru were already sitting next to each other on one side of the table, so I sat down opposite them and (after about five minutes of saying 'um' and trying to decide what to have) settled on pancakes with chocolate sauce and sugar.

If my day's gonna be bad, at least I can say I had a good breakfast.

" **Morning Marcie.** " They chorused.

"Munin." (Morning) I replied with a mouthful of pancake. What? It's really good. They adopted two amused smirks.

"Are you excited for your first gym class?" Kaoru asked, cutting his jam toast into two triangles while Hikaru ate his chocolate toast in its original rectangle.

"No." I replied, shovelling in more pancake and downing some apple juice.

* * *

 **Who else is starting to crave some pancakes right now? Fuck this I'm going to creams.***

 **(Twas at this moment the author abandoned her phone in order to request to her mother about going to creams. Her request was denied. She walked back to her room solemnly and continued to write fanfiction instead of going outside with the friends she doesn't have. Because seriously, who goes outside anymore?)**

 **Okay I'm back, sorry.**

* * *

The three of us were now sat in the limo with our bags on our laps and PE bags on the floor by our feet.

The twins reminded me of their promise to Haruhi about warding off any perv who tries anything with me while I'm in the (frankly, quite perverted and) revealing gym uniform, and that's when it dawned on me.

"You guys, are there any cubicles or something in the changing rooms?"

What will I do if there aren't any? That means flashing my underwear to every boy in our class as well as letting them see me in the gym uniform. Please god no.

"Nope." Hikaru said, with a grin that could suggest he was perfectly capable of starting WW3 if he wanted.

"There's a little section with toilets, there are cubicles there?" Kaoru offered, causing me to sigh in relief and jab Hikaru in the ribs.

"Thanks." I said before allowing myself to slide down in my seat and groan loudly as we pulled up outside the school.

"Nooooooo! I don't wanna go!" I cried as the tweeds grabbed an ankle each and tried yanking me out of the car as I clinged desperately to the top of the window which had been left slightly rolled down.

"I don't wanna wear a perverted gym uniform!"

" **Let go of the window Marcie, you're gonna break it! Then we'll make Kyoya add it to Haruhi's debt!** "

They had had to call Haruhi over to tickle me into letting go of the car, and then I was, again, reassured multiple times of the twins' promise to Haruhi.

And, to Hikaru's reluctance, she had made Kaoru promise to be my partner. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet, but I guess I'd rather him than Hikaru, considering how irritated the older Hitachiin had been over the request.

I clutched my gym bag tightly in my arms and inhaled deeply as I closed my eyes tightly. "Okay, I'm ready." I lied. I didn't sound convincing at all, but I felt a hand grab each of my forearms and guide me through the changing room door.

A few whispers erupted as we walked through, all of them male, but I was lead round a sharp corner and pushed into a cubicle.

"You can open your eyes now, Marcie." I heard Kaoru call. I obeyed and reluctantly opened my eyes to turn and lock the stall door as the silence on the other side remained existent.

Then I heard Hikaru speak in a 'don't-even-think-about-it' tone. "Quit staring you guys, she's not coming out till all of you are dressed and gone so that we can give her a jacket or something."

"Aw, come on. Don't act like you two aren't the least bit curious as to what she looks like in it." A new voice whined, summoning my red cheeks.

"Nope. Haruhi's orders. Now hurry up or we'll all be late." Kaoru informed, and some faint ruffling which hopefully meant that one or two people had finally started getting changed.

"I can hear all of you, by the way." I said loudly. There was an awkward silence before more loud ruffling (and a bit of grumbling) was heard to indicate that everyone had started changing.

I sighed quietly, eyeing up the uniform in front of me in disgust. Who's idea was it to create such a perverted piece of clothing? "Let's get this over with."

Third person POV

After many minutes of protests from a few boys in the changing room, Marcie and the twins were left alone. "You can come out now, if you're done." Kaoru called. He couldn't help but feel a small amount of sympathy for the girl. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he had to be the only boy in the girls gym class. At least he wouldn't have to wear their ridiculous uniform.

There was a 'click' as the stall's lock slid back and the door glided open to allow the blonde to step out.

The shoulders on her plain white t-shirt (besides the light blue hem around the neck and sleeves) were slightly puffy, and the light blue elastic(...I don't even know what to call them, knickers? No that's too weird. I'll just call them bottoms. I honestly feel a bit awkward writing this part, but a description has to be done so I'll just be as nonweird -amazing grammar, I know- as I can) bottoms had two white stripes going down the sides.

Plain white socks stopped just below her knees and the light blue trainers she wore had white laces with two white stripes on both sides.

She did look quite cute, but obviously that was the last thing she would want to hear. It's one thing to wear it, and another to look cute in it. But it's not like he was generally attracted to her or anything...it's just that...she's a model, so of course she'd look cute in almost anything...yeah...

Due to Marcelline's lack of height, the jacket (supplied by Haruhi) was too big to wear properly without it being a slight nuisance to run or do anything energetic in, so she ended up tying it around her waist as a kind of make-shift skirt.

She sighed in something resembling defeat before double tying the sleeves in front of her. "Okay, lets go." She huffed once satisfied with how much of the bottoms were covered.

"On your mark... get set... GORILLA!"

The blonde model stopped mid-sprint. "Wait, does that count as 'go' or-" she cut herself off as she tumbled forward and landed inelegantly on the muddy floor. Other partner teams looked over and laughed at the sight of the model sprawled out on the grass as she cast Kaoru an angry glare. "I blame you for that." She huffed, puffing out her cheeks in an angry pout.

"Sorry. Now get up, or we're gonna fall behind." Kaoru replied, in a way that hinted to Marcelline that he wasn't that sorry.

She got back up and repositioned her feet on the staring line of the school's unnecessarily massive running track.

"Alright. 3... 2... 1... CHEESEBURGER!" The younger Hitachiin yelled, causing the blonde to stumble again. Maybe it was a little bit funny the first two times, maybe even the third. But seven times is too much. Or was it eleven now? She'd lost count.

"I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR TONGUE AND FEED IT TO YOU!"

"You can try, but with your height, I'd be surprised if you can even reach as high as my-" His reply was cut off as he swiftly ducked to avoid the random basket-ball that was thrown (and aimed surprisingly well) at his head.

"Kaoru, Marcelline, a problem?" the teacher yelled over from timing her group. She was aware of the arrangement that Kaoru would be the girl's partner, which was why (for once) she could tell which twin was which.

"We're fine, sensei," Kaoru beamed, shooting the female teacher a charming side smile. Her knees buckled and she latched onto a male student next to her, who proceeded to fan her while rolling his eyes. Marcie pouted again and continued to wave the dirt off her arms and legs.

"Back to the sprints~" Kaoru looked back at his partner, who got into a starting stance 100 Meters away from him with a faint trace of an angry glare in his direction. "Ready, set... GOPHER!"

Upon hearing the word 'go' somewhere in there, she forced her heel to push off of the track and sprint past another classmate, accelerating at immense speed.

"What's my time!" She called out triumphantly after she zoomed past him and jogged over.

"You started before I said 'Go', so I didn't time it properly!" Kaoru said. "Go back and try again!"

She closed her eyes momentarily and reminded herself that it wouldn't end well if she kicked him where the sun don't shine; since not only was he rich and had the capability to snap his fingers and have her fired from her job and sent back to live with her step-father, but he also had a scary older brother with an extremely short temper than surely wouldn't hesitate to kick her ass. Whether she was a girl or not. Exhaling, she re-opened her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. Then re-tucked the strand of hair she had left out of the bunches behind her ear, unintentionally revealing her forehead. Kaoru gulped. Her skin was glistening (with sweat, but if you ignored that fact it was like she was some kind of fantasy vampire) and her seemingly glowing bright blue eyes showed faint sparks of irritation. She pinched the tip of her nose and shook the sweat out of her hair and face. "This time, okay?"

Kaoru looked away from her quickly, but his charming smirk distracted her from the light pink tint on his cheeks. "We'll see."

She did a half-hearted jog back to the starting line and touched her palms to the ground, a leg extended back and hands planted on the track.

She allowed herself to let out a small, content sigh; the cold, dry dirt welcoming her clammy palms.

"GO!"

Her legs burned, her paces widened and she could feel the soles of her feet colliding with the dirt below before lifting up and moving on in less than half a second. Kaoru squinted his eyes and pressed the stop button. The girl jogged back triumphantly, and stopped in front of him.

"My time?" She asked hopefully, panting heavily.

"20 seconds, You're sloooow." Kaoru drawled with a whine on the end, patting her on the back before instantly with-drawing his hand in disgust. "Ugh! You're sweating like a pig!"

"No one told you to touch me!" Marcie quickly snapped. "Obviously I'm sweating, I probably ran 500 useless meters before you actually timed me properly." she added defensively, snatching a water bottle from him. Kaoru faked a cough as she opened it and poured some over her head to cool herself down. "Agh, I'm so tired already. Get running, tweed."

She pressed the timer down and watched as Kaoru finished his 100 meters. She stared in a mix of shock, envy and awe at the time displayed as he jogged back.

"Barely 12 seconds! Impossible! What are you on, steroids!?" She exclaimed, watching Kaoru not break a sweat as he jogged circles around her with a smirk.

"What? Don't I look the part?"

"You're not anything special. Except for, you know, being scrawny." She mocked with a smirk. He nudged the girl's head and scoffed.

"What'd you say? You're skinnier than me! No muscle at all!"

"Well I'm a model, so I'm not exactly going to be a bulky body builder am I?"

"How rude." He said with a pout. "And here I was going to tell you your real time, too!" he jested, beginning to tickle her and watched her squirm under his reach. She held back the laughter and refused to give in to his torture even as her face grew as red as a cherry.

"Stop!" Marcie shouted in desperation, beginning to laugh hysterically. "W-wait, m-my real time? What wa- hahhaha! What was it- hahha! Invasion of space, invasion of space! Stop!"

"Never!" he shouted in protest to the plea, tickling the blonde harder. Suddenly, through her seizuring squirms, she had enough of her foot hooked around Kaoru's leg to trip him, causing him to fall backwards and drag her down with him.

"Everyone come in! P.E's over!"

"WAH!" Her head landed on Kaoru's chest as she pulled away to hover over his body, laughing triumphantly before realising the position they were in. She could feel his body through the thin fabric of his shirt, and blushed in spite of herself. For what she'd said to be a 'scrawny' guy, the hard abdominal muscles surprised her. She looked up from his chest, noticing the way his seemingly flawless jaw line connected to his neck, the way his hair twisted over his ear and around the bridge of his nose.

"Oi, get up, fat ass." His breath tickled her face. She blinked away her awe at his teasing words, and hoisted herself off of him, dusting yourself and looking around to see if anyone had seen. Everyone was still finishing their sprints and heaving heavily from exhaustion. And yet, she failed to see the older Hitachiin who stood a few metres away from them with a look of something like a mix between amusement and shock while he looked at them.

Marcie then extended a hand to Kaoru's upright-sitting figure, and attempted to pull him up once he took it. Instead, he used her hand as some kind of support rope, pulling himself up which in turn sent her down again.

He laughed good heartedly, showing he meant no offence by it and patted her head despite noticing her offended pout. He then went to walk over to Hikaru who was waiting by the door before looking back at her blankly and yelling out, "15 seconds!"

Marcie glanced up at him in alarm, and sported a breathtaking smile. "15! For real?! That's my fastest so far!" She yelled gleefully to no one in particular before pretty much leaping off the ground and cheerfully sprinting over to the twins, suddenly full of energy again. Once she caught up to them, she walked triumphantly alongside the pair who rolled their eyes at each other with a small smile each.

* * *

 _Start with me and the world will be_

 _even bigger than ever before_

* * *

 **Again, sorry it's shorter than normal. My wifi's been bad these last couple days so the chapter wouldn't post or save when I wrote more. Till next time then :D**

* * *

*For all of you non-English/American people who don't know what creams is, it's a restaurant where they only sell desserts. Like pancakes and crêpes and waffles. Yeah. I know; it's amazing.


	17. (16) A Brother's Bond

**THIS IS IT EVERYONE, STAY CALM**

 ***Whats the procedure?***

 **STAY FUCKING CALM**

 **I'm sorry, I'm just excited for this lil mini-arc since it's the one that I know a lot of you have been waiting for ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1** **8: A brother's bond**

 _Third Person POV_

It was a normal day at school. A Tuesday, so the quaternion* had gym first period.

Then was maths (or 'calculus' or 'numeracy' or whatever else people call it), where Marcie would share her notes with Kaoru who struggled in the subject.

Then at break, depending on whether or not the hosts were seeing guests today or holding a meeting, the twins would go to the school's cafeteria with the other hosts while the two 'commoners with home-made lunches' stayed in the classroom to eat. Marcelline would have normally brought some of the many leftovers from the 'rich-people' breakfast to share with Haruhi.

Then foreign languages, where Haruhi would share _her_ notes with _Hikaru_ who struggled in the subject.

Then geography where they would converse via post-it-note since geography was pointless. If I want to know the population of some random country (for whatever weird and unlikely reason that may be), I'll google it. I don't need to memorise it from an outdated textbook.

Then lunch, where they would head to the third music room and set up whatever crazy expensive props and scenery were necessary to match their cosplay for the day.

Last was food tech, which was why Marcie enjoyed Tuesdays so much. Many of her so-called fanboys felt the same, since it meant seeing their hostess in a lil' apron with her hair in whatever cute style Haruhi decided to put it in for her (Mostly a simple bun or bunches).

Then they'd go on ahead of their fan girls and boys to get into whatever previously mentioned cosplay Tamaki had chosen. And when I say 'Tamaki had chosen', I of course mean 'Kyoya had subtly influenced Tamaki into choosing'.

That's where their day would usually be most interesting, since that club never seemed to have a normal day or dull moment. Today was no exception, obviously.

 _Marcie POV_

Today the cosplay theme was some kind of Arabian Palace**, and in my opinion Tamaki was taking it wayyyy too seriously. He was decked out in a proper Sheik outfit with a variety of jewellery that was most likely real gold. Rich bastards.

The rest of the hosts were dressed as warriors and traders, and I was some kind of genie. Basically like Jasmine from Aladdin, but the colour was lavender with gold embroidery to go with my rose colour which had _finally_ been decided; Kyoya and I did a bit of research to look for a colour that suited me and I got the chance to see what all the other colours meant too.

Mine (lavender) means wonder and love which I personally think is pretty cute (and a good colour on me, if I do say so myself).

Haruhi's (red) means love, passion, beauty and courage.

Kaoru's (orange) means fascination, desire and enthusiasm.

Hikaru's (blue) means mystery and ambiguity.

Honey's (light pink) means gentleness, warmth and joy.

Mori's (dark blue) means calmness, respect and well-being.

Kyoya's (purple) means opulence, enchantment, magnetism and majesty, and Tamaki's (white) means a lot of things that could easily describe his 'princely side'; stuff like honour, everlasting love, beauty and youthfulness.

Pretty fitting, right?

I'm an official host now, since my rose colour and type have been chosen (the big sister type***, super creative, I know) so I can actually start taking bigger numbers off Haruhi's debt.

Snapping me out of my internal monologue, Kyoya ordered everyone into place as we heard footsteps approach the door.

We posed and did our usual chorus of "Welcome ladies~", only to pause after realising it was neither a lady, nor welcome. It was in fact, a very grumpy looking child from Ouran's elementary school nearby.

"Oh. It's just a kid." Hikaru huffed in a bored tone.

"Not only that, it's just a boy." Kaoru added, both tweeds slouching out of their poses.

Tamaki however, stayed in character. "What's wrong, little boy? Did you come to my palace in search of something?"

The boy looked hesitant before saying "Are you the king of this place?"

Haruhi and I flinched simultaneously. Crap...Ya done gone did it now, lil runt.

Tamaki was struggling to contain his excitement at finally being 'acknowledged' as the king.

"Come closer, lost one. What was it you called me just now?"

The boy really looked uncomfortable as he took a few steps forward. "The...king?"

Tamaki sighed happily as if the word was playing over and over in his head. As far as I could tell, he was satisfied for now.

"Oh, the king! Yes I'm the king of the Ouran Host Club! Long live the king~" He bragged to the child as the rest of us just kinda stood there awkwardly.

Seeing that letting Tamaki do the talking was a bad idea, Kyoya stepped forward with a notebook that had just miraculously appeared a few seconds ago. I've already lost count of all the times they've used those weird superhuman abilities. I think I've discovered mine though! It's really cool, you're gonna love it: Feeling exhausted without doing anything. It's great, really helpful.

"Can we help you with something?" Kyoya's said, with a smile that said 'Happy to help' and a tone that said 'if you're not here to give me money then get out'. That's what it sounded like to me anyway.

The boy blinked as if just remembering that he was actually there for a reason. "I am an elementary 5th year, Shiro Takaoji****! I want the host club king to take me on as an apprentice!" He demanded.

In all honesty, it took all my will power not to face palm and tell the poor kid to run before it was too late. Bless his poor little unsuspecting soul.

Haruhi and I didn't have any guests today, so we were just helping out with the little jobs. Obviously, Tamaki had taken up the kids offer and let him be his apprentice. It's pretty amusing to be honest, since despite having some anger issues e seems like the only sane person here.

He was next to Tamaki who was sitting opposite a guest and attempting to charm despite the smaller child's...mean comments. Haruhi sighed after another of Tamaki's customers ran out crying. "Don't you think it's weird that Tamaki-Senpai is making him observe them so closely?" She said, a noticeable amount of defeat in her tone. I was about to answer when I heard Kyoya's voice from behind that made me jump and yell out in surprise. Haruhi wasn't completely unaffected though, of course, and just turned around to listen to him.

"There is a theory that people are considered more beautiful the closer they are viewed. Tamaki seems to take that theory very seriously."

The three of us watched as the tweeds appeared at Tamaki's sides.

"How'd it go, boss?" I heard Hikaru say. "You got yourself an adorable little apprentice there. Really polite." He teased. Kaoru clinged to his brother's arm as pools of hurt formed in the corners of his eyes (fake ones, obviously).

"Hikaru, do you wish you had a little brother like Shiro?" He asked, looking up at him. Hikaru whipped his head round to look at his brother.

They swiftly rearranged themselves into a suggestive pose so that Hikaru could finish of the fangirls with his reply. "Don't be silly. I could search the whole world and I'd never find a better brother than you, Kaoru!"

Aaaaand there they go. All the fan girls. On the floor. Some drooling, some crying from happiness. Either way, Haruhi and I will still have to clean it up later. It seemed like she had the same thought as she sighed and said we should get back to work. She barely got to finish her sentence though before being interrupted by a muffled Melanie Martinez singing the chorus of 'Mrs Potato Head' in my pocket. I hurriedly sent Haruhi an apologetic glance as I whipped out my phone and silenced the ringtone.

"Hello?" I greeted the caller politely as I walked over to a quieter part of the room.

"Hi, this is Samantha." Said a middle aged-sounding woman from the other line.

I have to admit, I almost dropped the phone. As happy as I was to hear her voice after such a long time, I knew she wouldn't call unless it was an emergency.

"S-Samantha?! Why are you calling me?" I asked hesitantly.

I heard her laugh lightly. "Always straight to the point. Can't we catch up a bit first?"

I immediately felt a twinge of guilt even though I knew she was only teasing. It had been a fair amount of months since I last spoke to her, at the very least I owed her a day downtown together, we could catch up over coffee. Maybe Haruhi could join us, I know she'd love that. "You have a point...how about we go for a coffee later? Are you free?" I suggested, but she only laughed again.

"I'm just teasing you, dear." (Called it) " And besides, I think you'll change your mind about that coffee later."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. But actually, there _was_ something I needed to speak to you about."

My small smile faltered slightly. "Yes?"

Samantha stalled awkwardly. "Well, it's...it's Peter, dear. He's in the hospital."

To be completely honest, I wasn't sure how to react. Obviously he's my stepfather and I _should_ care about him, but after all he's done to me I couldn't help not feeling any sympathy for him whatsoever. In fact, I might have actually felt a bit smug.

"I see. What happened to him?" Was all I could say after much consideration.

Again, she stalled. "He...well...he had a heart attack. The staff and I managed to get him to the hospital in time, and he's now stable enough for visitors."

I sighed. I knew where this was going. "I take it you want me to visit him?"

She was silent before eventually releasing a defeated sigh. "In short, yes. I know you'd rather not see him but this heart attack has changed something inside him. Obviously, I'm not saying he's perfect but he's definitely had a change of heart."

I considered it. I'd never forgive him for the things he'd done, but a 'change of heart' seemed like a good enough way to make things better, if only a little. But I was still unsure.

"I...I don't know, Sam."

"Please Marcelline? He knows you're not eager to see him so all he wants is to give you something."

This caught my attention.

"Which is?"

She seemed to catch on to my curious tone and I regretted showing it since now I knew she'd use it to her advantage.

"Come see him and you'll find out."

I sighed in defeat, "Alright fine. But whatever he wants to give me better be worth it."

"Oh, I'm sure it is. I'll send a car over to pick you up."

"Kay. See you soon, Sam."

I could hear the victory in her tone as she returned my farewell, and I couldn't help feeling anxious about whatever it was that Peter wanted to give me.

I hurriedly gathered my things and told Haruhi that I had to go and that I'd explain later. She raised an eyebrow in a 'ya, you better.' kind of way and I shot her another apologetic shrug before rushing out to meet the car outside.

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

After finally arriving at the hospital, Marcie was greeted by Samantha at the entrance and was then rushed to her step father's designated room. She was then left outside the door to gather her thoughts.

"You can go in whenever you're ready, dear." The maid had told her before walking back down the hall to talk to a very serious looking nurse.

Marcie took a deep breath and went in.

She stiffened.

Peter looked - for lack of a better term - like shit.

He was pale, his hair was messy and he looked like he hadn't shaved in days. Probably because he hasn't. He turned his head to face her weakly which made her tense.

"Hello, Sir."

The man she both resented so strongly was admittedly looking quite pathetic. They almost felt sorry for him. _Almost_ , but she didn't.

Peter Yumai was deathly pale and seemed exhausted. He was hooked up to many machines, and the heart monitor maintained a steady beep as he turned to face his step child as they walked in.

There were no 'hello's or 'nice to see you's, no 'are you alright?!'s or hugs. Just an awkward silence that hung in the air, of which neither of the room's occupants were willing to break. In the end, he did.

"You know...being alone here in this room for hours on end gives a man a lot of time to think. I've...come to realise that, maybe I wasn't...the _best_ at taking care of you..." he explained awkwardly, fidgeting in his bed. Marcie said nothing but raised an eyebrow; unconvinced.

"And I realise that it's probably far too late to say it, but for whatever it's worth, I'd like to formally apologise for everything I've done." _Now_ she felt sorry for him.

"It's...alright." Marcie said, slowly.

Obviously it would take far more than _that_ for her to forgive him, but the fact that the man had even _realised_ his mistakes was a start; let alone _apologising_ for them.

Peter sighed. "Don't worry, I know I've got a long way to go before you forgive me. But...I hope this sends us in the right direction." He finished his awkward speech as he handed her a small piece of paper.

She took it hesitantly and unfolded it, reading the small words scribbled down inside. "What is this?"

He gave her a sad smile. "It's an address. Your brothers address."

Marcie barely managed to stop herself from dropping it and freaking out. "I...I see." She mumbled.

She knew Mitskuni lived with her uncle at the dojo, but she'd only been there once as a child, and no longer remembered the way. She was also never allowed to visit after Mitskuni started living there. Peter had forbidden it out of fear that if she visited then she wouldn't come back either.

She didn't want to be rude and leave him after he'd finally started being nice, but she desperately wanted to go see her brother.

Luckily, she didn't have to decide as Samantha came back into the room, ushering her out and saying that visiting time was over and she could visit again tomorrow if she wanted.

As soon as Marcie left the room, Peter caught the maid by the wrist.

"I need to talk to you for a moment, Samantha."

The woman hesitated a moment, but nodded. "Yes, Sir?"

The man struggled a bit to sit up, chuckling a little. "Please, just call me Peter." a more solemn tone took over the peaceful one from a moment ago. "But I want to talk to you about Marcelline. I'm not going to be around much longer. She thinks I'm in here because of a heart attack, right?" He sighed softly, looking down as the maid nodded again in confirmation. "Well be both know that's not true. Yes, I've been having heart problems for a long time now, but … The doctors can't do anything anymore."

All was silent for a moment, with only the sound of the monitor's beeping.

"What's this disease thing called again?" He asked, forgetting the name.

"Cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy," she said softly, a pitiful stare on her face. "Ah, yes that was it." The maid saw one tear fall from his chin.

"I'm a goner by the end of the week. Maybe sooner. That's what the doctors say." Samantha's brows creased in sympathy for the man who turned to face her in his bed.

"When I go, I'm splitting whatever's left of the fortune between Marcelline and Mitskuni. I've also cancelled the engagement I'd set up for her. I know that's what she wants, even though the family of the boy weren't very happy about it." He grew a small smile. "They said they'd get revenge. I'd like to see them try getting _anything_ from a dead man." He allowed himself a small, cocky laugh which turned into a cough.

The stern looking nurse from earlier walked in, telling Samantha it was time to go.

"Mitskuni will probably keep living with his uncle and cousins, so I want you to look after Marcelline for me. She's a good kid, from what I've heard."

The maid smiled at him with something like pride in her eyes. "She is." She replied before bowing goodbye to him and turning to leave.

He called her name as she was in the doorway and she turned to look at him one more time.

"Thank you for your service."

"Of course, si-...Peter. It was an honour to work with you."

* * *

The driver parked up on the curb next to the house next to the Huninozuka Dojo. Marcelline walked nervously up the steps and, after a couple seconds of hesitation, knocked on the door.

She heard a few rushed voices on the other side before it opened, revealing...Honey?

"Hello, Marcie-chan." Honey greeted the blond in front of him in his usual happy, childish tone. He knew she was coming, his uncle had told him about Peter being in the hospital and giving her the paper. Marcelline's confused expression had dampened his confidence. Because it wasn't just confusion, but realisation and worry, maybe even slight fear. As if she knew what he was going to say but didn't want to take action until he said it, incase she was wrong.

"Honey-senpai? What are you doing here?" She said slowly, her voice cracking. Her hands shaking. Her eyes watering. He'd always been afraid of how she'd react when she found out the truth. There have been so many times he wanted to tell her who he was, that he was sorry, that he loves her and missed her and not a day went by when he wished he could've come back to at least say goodbye. Or, better yet, to take her with him.

"I...um..." She tried to speak, but her emotions caused her breathing to hitch as she hurriedly wiped away her tears, as if desperate to deny their presence.

Honey felt his own eyes begin to sting as he took a few cautious steps toward her.

"Oh wow, it was you the whole time?! I feel kinda silly for not noticing. It seems really obvious now." She said, forcing a laugh. "You look so different." She added, dropping on her knees to Honey's level. He attempted a smile. "So have you! Look how tall you've gotten!" He teased, causing a smile of her own to appear, though small, and she shuffled closer to him on her knees in order to hold him at arms length by the shoulders.

"I wanted to tell you, really I did!" Honey told her, his own voice beginning to break and quiver. "I didn't know if you'd even want me back in your life after I left when I did. I promise, I'll make it all up to you! I'll never leave your side again." He told her. "Please forgive me? I'm so sorry..." Honey begged, hanging his head to hide his tearful eyes from her own. Her eyebrows creased together as her grip tightened on his shoulder. Not in a way that would hurt him, but more in a way that you may affectionately squeeze someone's hand while you hold it. Be it to reassure them, or to reassure yourself.

"Of course I'd want you back, dummy! You're my big brother for gods sake..." she cried, letting go of his shoulders to gently wipe away the tear track from one of his cheeks with her thumb. He bent his head into her palm before breaking free from it and leaping forward, wrapping his arms around her shoulders before burying his face into the crook of her neck.

Marcie would have wiped away her tears for the eighth time during their encounter, but stopped herself upon hearing the small boy in her arms sob.

The kind of sob that hurt your throat when you let it out; the kind of sob that comes from the very pits of your stomach, along with the deepest corner of your heart. The kind of sob that makes you hyperventilate until you sob again. The type of sob that finally makes someone understand how much you're hurting. When you're so happy that it hurts all over and all you want to do is cry; so that's what you do since you realise there's no point holding it in anymore.

Marcelline lowered her hands from her face and instead wrapped them around Honey's back, letting the tears fall.

And they sat there on the doorstep together; crying and crying, letting out every emotion that they'd been holding back since the day they were separated.

* * *

 _The road that's gonna take me home tonight,_

 _Is just the same as always_

* * *

 **I seriously hope I managed to write this out well. Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, even though there shouldn't be since this chapter literally took me FOREVER cuz I checked and rechecked to make sure it was perfect since this chapter is important :3. I'm also still on school holidays for another two weeks so whoop whoop. Also idk if I've done this yet but thank you for all your support in the reviews ^-^ they seriously make my day, not that follows and favourites aren't good either but reviews are the best since it means someone has taken time out of their day to make sure you know they had fun reading something you worked hard to write so yeah :D plz review. And to the guest reviewer who asked me to give them creams. I apologise ;-; but that's not within my power. Even if it was tho I'd give it to ME. ;P get rekt**

* * *

*Quaternion - a group of four people

 ***** *I had to google this.

***Because she's not really there to flirt with the boys, just kinda chill and be friendly. I also made it that way so that she's not limited to just serving boys, but she could help the girls out with their problems and stuff. Don't judge me too harshly, this is the best I could do -.-

****I had to google this too or you know his name would be *grumpy kid* or something stupid like that.


	18. (17) Truth Or Dare?

**GAAAAH! I AM SO SO SO SO SOOOOO SORRY THAT I HAVENT UPLOADED IN TWO. FRICKEN. MONTHS :'(**

 **But I'm back now so worry not! Also, on a side note, Id just like to mention that I've been sucked into the My hero Academia fandom and am obviously considering writing a fic ;P**

 **As of special request from a certain reviewer (WOSSUP ^-^ ty so much for spamming me with reviews!) I'll try and make this chapter have more Kaoru x Marcie fluff~ ;) ENJOY AND REVIEW PLZ :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Truth or Dare?**

 _Marcie POV_

After Honey and I calmed down and caught up with each other, it became surprisingly awkward really quickly, so we decided to call Mori over and tell him the news too. As expected, he took it well, simply smiling and patting us both on the head. Calling him over eventually lead to the rest of the host club being invited as well. After all, they'd all have to know at some point, so there was no point beating around the bush.

Haruhi was happy for me, Kyoya just nodded his head (aS IF HE'D KNOWN ABOUT IT THE WHOLE TIME WHICH I MADE A MENTAL NOTE TO ASK HIM ABOUT LATER) and Tamaki and the Twins freaked out before being confused, then shocked and _then_ happy. It was a struggle to get them to fully calm down before we all somehow got roped into a game of truth or dare. Even Kyoya joined in (for once)!

Speaking of the black-haired tax-collector, it was his turn. "Tamaki, Truth or Dare?" He asked in a bored tone as he tapped away on his laptop. Honestly, it's hard _not_ to wonder what he does on there all the time, but I don't want to ask for fear of being sued. Although, despite me saying that, I _do_ think it would be cute ignore it turns out he was really just looking at cat videos and memes about turtles. Something random like that.

Anyways.

The blonde eagerly chose 'Dare', and was (internally applauded for his bravery and) ordered to be the group's waiter until it was his turn again. With a gasp of 'how could you?!' and then an angry grumble of 'actually, I should have seen this coming', he stomped off to the kitchen to get us some snacks and drinks which were most likely all forms of cake and sweets considering the fact that this is _Honey's_ house.

After he came back, Tamaki pointed a finger at Haruhi which made her jump and nearly drop her slice of cake. "HARUHI!" He yelled, "TRUTH. OR. DARE!"

His tone had clearly startled her, and she hastily put her plate down on the coffee table behind her out of fear of dropping it completely. She eventually said 'truth', and I silently nodded at her wise choice. Judging by the evil glint in his eyes and the way his mouth formed a '3', the outcome of choosing dare would _not_ have been anything good.

His eyes flashed with disappointment for little more than a millisecond before he got into a pose and his eyes, again glinted with evil and his mouth stayed firmly in a '3', he practically sparkled as he said "Do you think of me as a Father figure?!"

Honey, Hikaru, Kaoru and I all sweat dropped, knowing immediately which answer we all knew Tamaki was hoping for versus the one we all knew he would get.

"No." Haruhi said blankly with absolutely no traces of hesitation or sympathy whatsoever. That's my girl, Haruhi, stay strong! She then turned to Mori. "Truth or Dare, Mori-senpai."

"Dare."

Haruhi thought for a moment before starting to laugh a little. Honey, Tamaki, the twins and I all shuffled closer to her, eager to hear what she'd come up with.

"I dare you to balance Kyoya's laptop on your head until your next turn." She said, grinning evilly. The twins smiled proudly at her while Honey, Tamaki and I prayed for her health and Mori did as he was told; taking the device and balancing it on his head easily before going back to his previous sitting position.

Meanwhile, as Mori dared Honey to do a handstand (bless him XD), Kyoya sent multiple glares towards Haruhi that said 'if that laptop has so much as a _scratch_ when I get it back, the expense of buying a new one will be added to _your_ debt. _Plus. Interes_ t.'

Ignoring the chills that went down my spine, I listened to Honey dare me to spill a cute story about Haruhi and I from when we were kids. My mind _immediately_ went to when her, Michelle and I played kick the can. All the hosts knew about Michelle at this point, since Honey and I mentioned her while explaining to the lot of them how we were related.

Haruhi apparently knew what I was thinking, and silently begged me to pick a different story. Not happening.

"Well," I began, matter-of-factly as a stretched my arms out infront of me and got more comfortable on the carpet. "I remember one time, Michelle and I were in the playground with Haruhi and we all decided to play Kick the Can." I said, patting Haruhi's shoulder apologetically while she sulked.

"Since it was the first time she decided to join in the game instead of watching us, we decided to let her be the kicker first." As much as I tried to suppress it, I could feel the smile speaks slowly across my face, causing the others to raise their eyebrows and shuffle forward in anticipation (minus the obvious two).

"Turns out that wasn't such a great idea, she missed when she kicked it and fell right on her butt. I came out of my hiding place to check if she was okay but-"

"Oh, as if!" Haruhi interrupted, shoving me playfully with a pout. "You didn't 'come out', you _fell_ out! You were laughing so hard you fell face first!" She said, setting us all off laughing.

"Alright, alright. Kaoru, truth or dare?" I said, calming down.

"Truth." He said almost immediately. Smart move. I was gonna dare him him to gel his bangs back for school tomorrow. I've always wondered what it'd look like. Probably really badass, like someone from the Yakuza!

Guess I'll have to save it for another day.

"What's one thing Hikaru does a lot that annoys you?" I wasn't but trying to make them argue or anything like that, I just genuinely wanted to know. I thought he would at least protest a little bit first and say something like 'he could never annoy me, but...'

However, to my amusement, he shot a glare at his brother almost as quickly as Hikaru himself burst out laughing.

"Well." Kaoru began, matter-of-factly*. "Hikaru is Older than memye bu 12 minutes. And sometimes when he's bored, and we're in different parts of the house, he'll randomly call me and say 'ya know, when I was you're age-' and then he'll describe what he was doing twelve minutes ago."

The game continued for a couple more hours before everyone started going home. I would have stayed with Honey a while longer but we both knew that it would be a while before we would get used to the sudden change. Not that I wasn't happy to have finally found my brother, but it was hard to make conversation with a relative you hadn't seen for such a long time. The question 'hows school' was kinda out of the question for us and 'the weather sucks' can only be said so many times.

So instead, I asked him and to meet me after school so we could go hang out somewhere. I was planning on taking them to visit Michelle in the graveyard and then maybe take Samantha up on her offer to catch up over coffee.

I smiled at the thought as I waved goodbye to him and walked off to the car with the twins. I noticed Kaoru staring at me curiously through my peripheral vision so I raised an eyebrow at him, unable to wipe the grin of my face. He somewhat mirrored my expression with a shrug and turned to look back out the window, though I could swear I saw him staring in the reflection still.

* * *

 _Kaoru POV_

Later That night, I lay wide awake next to Hikaru. Glancing at the glowing digital clock on the nightstand, it was 3:51AM; yet I still couldn't sleep. Despite my efforts, I kept thinking about Marcie. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but this isn't the first time I've been unable to sleep and ended up thinking about her. I couldn't stop myself from repeatedly picturing the smile she had in the car. She just looked so _happy_. I don't think I've ever seen her with that kind of smile before. It was...pretty nice. But it kinda made me feel weird? Not a bad weird though, more like the kind of weird where you feel excited and nervous at the same time and you kinda wanna laugh but you kinda wanna puke at the same time?

I don't know. I'm probably not making any sense.

Guessing that I wouldn't be able to go back to slee p for a while, I decided to get up and get a drink from the kitchen. I know, I could call a maid to get it, but like I mentioned earlier: it's almost 4AM so I'd feel guilty if I had to wake someone up just to get me some water.

And with that thought, I carefully slid out of the covers and off the bed. I barely managed two steps before feeling a gentle hand wrap around my wrist and Hikaru's groggy voice quietly call out to me.

"Where are you going?"

I turned and smiled reassuringly at him. "Just getting a drink."

His eyes were still closed, but that didn't stop him from creasing his eyebrows and pouting in protest. "Just call a maid to do it."

"Nah, I don't wanna bother them. Besides, I could use the exercise." I replied jokingly, internally finding it amusing that Hikaru was trying to have a conversation with me that he probably wouldn't remember in the morning because he was clearly still half asleep and groggy.

Despite this, he managed to scoff. "Yeah, right. Just be quick." He said, retreating his arm back under the warmth of the covers after using it to shoo me away.

"Will do."

* * *

When I got to the kitchen, I almost had a freakin' _heart attack_ when I saw Marcie standing on her tip-toes and desperately trying to reach a glass from one of the wall-cupboards. Judging by her "EEP" and "HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST KAORU YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!", she wasn't amused with my decision to remain silently by the doorframe and slowly creep up on her from behind before whispering 'boo'.

"What are you doing up so early anyways?" She said, but only _after_ she flicked my forehead with a pout and a huff.

"Couldn't sleep," I began, biting the inside of my cheek in a futile attempt to stop myself from thinking about the reason _why_ I couldn't sleep. "What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep either." She said, shrugging non-chalantly even though the small smile that contagiously spread across her features was a dead giveaway to the fact that she was still thinking about Honey. I was really happy for both of them. Sursprised, a little weirded out and confused, but happy nonetheless.

"Think you could, uh..." She began, embarrassed to have to ask me for help on getting a glass down. (I knew that's what she would ask because I heard her mumble it under her breath during the approximate two to three minutes I spent creeping up on her

"Sure thing." I said, putting my hands on either side of her waist and lifting her up to reach the cabinet, not taking into consideration that she was still facing me until after our faces were inches apart. She reddened immediately, and I felt myself do the same as she reached her arms up behind her frantically and picked up what I can only assume was the first thing she felt, which was a plate. I put her down anyway and she sped off further down the counter to the sink.

Then she realised she was holding a plate and froze. I held back my laugh at her confused expression as best as I could. "Didn't you want a drink?" I teased. Marcie jolted and waved the plate at me without turning around.

"I, uh...changed my mind. Toast."

I nodded skeptically with a smile. "Uh huh."

She made a face that said 'yeah, yeah, whatever' and went back to her room, plate still in hand.

I kept my smile as I went back to my own room, the thought of getting a drink having completely slipped my mind at this point; which was fine, since a feeling of giddiness and a slight adrenaline rush had drowned my thirst completely. Quite ironic, when you think about it.

I laid back onto my pillow beside Hikaru with a content sigh, looking over at him as I felt him gently hold my hand under the covers. He opened one eye and raised a brow at me.

"I thought you were getting a drink?"

My smile widened yet again as I made a subtle joke despite knowing it was one he wouldn't get. "Changed my mind."

And it wasn't until later that night when Hikaru had long since fallen asleep, his hand still grasping mine as he slept, and the sun's pink and orange rays leaked through the edges of the curtains, I realised something.

Earlier, I hadn't been able to fall asleep due to the thought of just her smile, but after seeing her blushing face like that, so close to mine...

Crap.

Now I definitely won't be able sleep.

* * *

 _Led by the brink up all along the way_

 _Of the flicker from the street lamps fading_

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual, I'm struggling slightly with writers block but I'm slowly pulling through ^-^ And, A's promised, I tried including some fluffy goodness in there for ya'll~ ;) I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and thank you sooooo much to Andania Shinrai, unfittingpuzzlepieces, UltimateReading and simmerlily232 for your kind reviews! :D Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, until next time ;3**

* * *

*"Smug bastard copied me"


	19. (18) Jungle Pool SOS!

**First, I'd like to apologise for how long this update took. Honestly, I don't have much of an excuse other than school work and Christmas. It's also my birthday on January 31st (soon atm, idk when you'll be reading this so the day might have passed already) bUT IM TRIGGERED THAT ITS ON A WEDNESDAY! I have to go to school on my birthday for the third year in a row T^T and I know how the years go so it will stillness be two more years till I get to stay at home :(**

 **Even though the ending for this fic is a loooonnggg way away, I already have plans for at least like 4 other fics in the notes app for my phone XD They're all OC stories, one is another Ouran fic, one is a walking dead fic, one's for MysticMessenger, etc. But don't worry, I'm not even gonna THINK about publishing those until this story is more developed to like 30 chapters at LEAST. And I plan on it having approximately over 50 by the way. So yeah.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Jungle Pool SOS!**

 _Haruhi POV_

Marcie and I looked around us in awe. The sand below our feet, the calm chirping of the tropical birds flying freely above us, and the quiet, melodic ripples of the waves before us.

Wait, did I say ' _awe_ '? I meant ' _confusion_ '. It's early October. How the hell are we in a sunny, tropical resort? With snakes. And I think that's a toucan..?

"What kinda crazy-ass dream _is_ this?" She mumbled from beside me, and I shrugged in response.

"We...we're still in Japan, right?" I asked no one in particular, looking up at the glass dome above us with my hand acting as a guard from the almost-too-bright-to-be-believable sun.

Before anyone could attempt to answer either of us, Tamaki came up behind us both, squeezing in between us and putting his hands on one of our shoulders each. "Isn't it beautiful, ladies?" He said before lifting his arms to the sky in a dramatic gesture of 'WOW!'. "Bask in the glory of tropical birds! I wonder what they're called!" Tamaki continued, hands resting on or shoulders once again.

'Bask'..?

Marcie slowly lifted her hand and pointed blankly to the bird I was looking at earlier. "Uh...Toucan."

She was ignored as I pinched the skin on the back of his hand to get him off of me. "Where was the exit again?" I said, completely unimpressed and unwilling to try to hide it.

"Aw, c'mon!" Tamaki said from the deck chair he was suddenly on, holding an open coconut with exotically coloured cocktail umbrellas sticking out the side with a straw. "Try to make the most out of this down time and just _relaaaxx_."

I saw Marcie visibly cringe in my peripheral vision. "Don't say 'relax' like that, you make it sound so creepy." She said, nearly regretting it when an almost transparent (yet massive) red cartoonish arrow appeared out of no where with the word 'creepy' indented in giant capital letters hit him in the chest.

"Agreed." I began, "Also, did you really have to bring us here in such a dramatic way?" I added, sweat dropping as I thought back to what had happened.

* * *

 _I was walking through the school gates when a hand suddenly slipped under my forearm as a voice spoke._

 _"Target-"_

 _"-acquired."_

 _Another voice finished as a new hand gripped my arm and the two lifted me up enough that my feet weren't touching the ground. I turned my head to see that it was the twins in tinted, black sunglasses. Then my 'captors' sprinted back to the car park. The most worrying part was that none of the other nearby students seemed to question what was going on. Thanks, guys._

 _I was dragged in front of the back window of a black stretch-limo which rolled down it's window to reveal none other than Tamaki, who was also wearing the same pair of glasses as the twins. I don't know who else I was expecting, to be honest._

 _"Good work, now take her with you." He said, not even looking at us before rolling up the window again and driving away. The twins took that as a que to speed off back to their own limo and chuck me inside before clambering in after me._

 _Marcie was already there, and she looked at me sympathetically. "They got you too, huh?"_

* * *

I sighed. "What even _is_ this place?"

I was answered by Kyoya who, even here, had his notebook and was scribbling nonchalantly. "'This place' is a new theme park that my family, the Otōri group, runs. It's called the Tropical Aqua Garden."

"But doesn't the Otōri family mainly run hospitals and medical businesses, Kyoya?" Marcie said, using her pointer finger to fiddle with the pull strings for the hood of her white, cropped parka.

"That may be so, but my family likes to diversify and try different things. Besides, this resort could be classified as a therapeutic healing facility for overworked citizens in need of a break, but can't afford to go to faraway exotic places. Those people can now seek refuge here and decrease their stress levels." He explained, "The Otōri groups primary concern is and always has been the health and well-being of the general public."

I narrowed my eyes, unconvinced. "Sounds suspicious to me."

"Well the park doesn't open until next month, but the host club was given an exclusive invitation in advance." Kyoya said, finally snapping his notebook shut.

"Isn't this so peaceful though?" Tamaki piped up from his deck chair before sipping his drink contently before continuing. "We don't have to worry about keeping our guests entertained for once. It's truly like a holiday for handsome young soldiers! I guess that's what you'd call it." He said, practically _radiating_ sparkles.

I felt myself cringe as Marcelline turned away from him and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Don't hit him." She mumbled to herself, "Whatever you do, don't hit him."

We we're saved from Tamaki's narcissism by Honey-senpai who latched into our arms and looked up at us with a wide smile. "Do you guys wanna come have some coconut juice with me? Or some mango cake?"

"Yeah! We'll have some cake with you." Marcie replied before I could answer. When Honey bounded off, I shot her a glance to hint that I _was_ going to politely turn his offer down. "Oh, c'mon! As if you could've said 'no' to that lil face." She said with a toothy grin. I was about to retort when the twins appeared and draped themselves around our shoulders.

 **"What's the deal with that pullover, Haruhi?** " They asked.

I looked down at the yellow hooded jumper I was wearing over my costume. "You mean this thing?"

* * *

 _After getting out of the limo, the twins dragged Marcie and I over to a small changing room with two maids standing at the door. We were ushered towards them (despite our protests) and, long story short, forced into some swimsuits._

 _Mine was a pastel pink one-piece with a short, frilly skirt and swimming hat with three exotic-looking flowers on the hat and one of the shoulders of the costume._

 _Marcie had red high-waisted short-shorts with floral patterns on the left side, plus a matching red bikini top tied at the neck and around the back which she hid under the white hooded parka, except she'd pushed the sleeves back to her forearms. She'd also put her hair in a bun on top of her head and her tied it with a red and white checkered bandana. We looked at ourselves in the mirror quickly before being ushered out by the maids. Marcie caught sight of my grimace and giggled._

 _"Here, I've a got a hoodie in my bag that you can borrow." She said, passing it to me as I took off the swimming hat._

 _"Thank you." I replied, sighing slightly in relief as I pulled it over my head. It's not that I didn't like that he costume, but I didn't like the costume. Plus it was probably extremely expensive, and I was feeling a bit paranoid about breaking it._

* * *

Hikaru gave her a disapointed look. "Wait, so you're not going to swim then, Haruhi?" He asked.

"You two _can_ swim, right?" Kaoru added.

I nodded, "Yeah, I can swim as good as the next guy, but this just isn't my idea of fun." Then the identical red heads turned to Marcie, eyebrows raised as if to say 'what about you?'.

"I agree with Haruhi, I'd rather be at home to be honest." She said with a shrug.

"All you really need to play in the water is a plastic pool anyways." I finished, earning us both confused looks from the two.

" **A plastic pool? What's that**?" They asked.

"It's about this big, and it's round, and to use it you have to use an air pump to inflate it, like with tyres." Marcie explained triumphantly, using gestures before proudly putting her fists on her hips after finishing.

I gave her a light smack on the back of the head. "Don't act so smug when you were just as confused when you first saw one." I said, laughing as she shot me a look while smiling in spiteful of ourselves from recalling the memory.

The twins spoke up after being silent in thought for a while.

"You weirdos." Hikaru scoffed, shaking his head as if he pitied us.

"That's clearly an inflatable boat, dummy." Kaoru added, mirroring his brothers actions.

" **There's no way something that small could be used as a pool**." They finished in unison, using a tone that metaphorically dropped with mockery and disbelief.

Marcie and I tutted and rolled our eyes. "It's supposed to be small, that's the whole point of it. It's only a paddling pool." I explained, my eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"Yeah, they're more for dipping your feet into during the summer; it's not like you have to swim laps in it." Marcie agreed with me, again, forgetting that she and Michelle had been just as clueless and fascinated at the idea as these two were.

The pair of red heads were about to retort again when they were suddenly yanked away by Tamaki who whispered furiously (and loudly) to them. "If they think it's a pool, it's a _pool_ , got it?! Don't go embarrassing them!"

Marcie sweat-dropped from where she was standing next to me. "I feel like there are multiple reasons that should offend us, but I can't be assed to point them all out."

I patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's alright, I feel your pain."

While the three of them continued their odd little gathering, Honey reappeared at our side. "Marcie-chan, Haru-chan, do you guys wanna come swim in the current pool with me?" He asked, tugging on our sleeves.

I shook him off gently and began subtly ushering the two of them over to the pool. "Nah, I'm not gonna swim today but I'm sure Marcie will go with you?" I said it as if it was a suggestion despite knowing that she would be happy to.

"Hell yeah I will!" She cheered in response, kneeling down slightly to let him climb onto her shoulders for a piggy back ride. However, she suddenly paused before taking off. "Hold on, you can swim Honey, so why'd you need the floaty?" She asked, gesturing to the inflatable rubber ring he was holding as she decided that walking to the pool was probably smarter than her initial idea which was to sprint.

The smaller boy shrugged with a beaming smile. "Yeah, but it just looks cuter this way, ya'know?" He replied.

"Yeah," She nodded after a short hum of thought. "It does." They laughed together before walking out of earshot from me.

I didn't think much of it to be honest; simply agreeing with them that, yes - it does look cuter that way. The twins also agreed, saying that the scene was definitely super cute and innocent (after one of them appeared on either side of me and nearly gave me a heart attack). But then, I heard gears clicking together in the ground nearby as a large circle was indented into the floor before being swallowed up by the surrounding tiles to make way for a metal podium that rose up as it span like a music box. And the person on it was, of course, none other than Renge Hoecjdjidkdjdjcd.

She popped up mid-pose in a black bikini with weird symbols printed in blue on her stomach via stick-on tattoo.

The twins commented on her outfit, allowing her to haughtily explain her latest cosplay in detail. Meanwhile, all I could think about was _how_ the hell she knew we'd be here and _why_ the hell she thought it would be okay to follow us.

And how come nobody else seems bothered that she shamelessly created a hole in Kyoya's resort floor?! I bet they won't make _her_ pay off any debt.

She snapped me out of my angry grumbling by calling out to get our attention. "Listen up! You boys obviously need help understanding Haninozuka-kun's hidden motives. Look!" She declared, pointing over to the current pool where Marcie, Honey and Mori were all playing cheerfully. Well; Marcie and Honey were cheerful and Mori-Senpai was just...being himself? "Think about what he said earlier." Renge continued in a tone that suggested she had been scheming over this theory for a while.

" _It just looks cuter this way, ya know?_ "

"He's not being as sweet and innocent as you think." She implied with a raised eyebrow and mischievous smirk.

Kyoya nodded, not once looking up from the maze of words in his notebook. "I agree. Try putting the word 'I' in front of that sentence." He added.

" _Looks cuter this way,_ " " _I_ " = " _I look cute~_ "

The Twins, Tamaki and I all jolted with a sweat drop. " **He _planned_ that?!** "

Renge put the back of her hand to her mouth with a dramatic laugh while the podium span in reverse back into the floor. "That's Haninozuka-kun for you. I should give him more credit, he's smarter than I thought." She just managed to finish her scented end before disappearing into the tiles as if she was never there.

The four of us stared at the spot in disbelief before jerking our heads over to Honey when he called. He was sitting on Mori's back as he swam while Marcie sat on the side of the pool with her legs dangling in, watching them fondly.

"Hey, look at this everybody! Even though we're swimming really fast, we never go any further than we are now!" He said, waving enthusiastically.

After that, I refused a fake marriage proposal from the twins before narrowly dodging a water fight and going to stand next to Mori who was by the deck chairs under a sun shade. "Taking a break huh? You want something to drink?" I asked, offering him some lemonade which he took with a grateful nod.

I was about to say something else when Tamaki suddenly yelled about some kind of sideways attack to do with the water fight. Then he gracefully leapt to the side before slipping on a banana skin that appeared from seemingly no where. He slid across the tiled floor with cries of agony before crashing into a nearby...totem...pole...? The eyes of the totem began to glow red menacingly as a large wave built up with rapid speed in the current pool where Marcie and Honey had previously been peacefully paddling* before getting swept away by the cascade of colossal chlorine*.

However, I didn't really see that happen since I was too busy focusing on how Mori tried to chase after them but ended up slipping on _another_ magic banana skin and slid almost comedically across the floor.

After he sat up and brushed himself off, the remaining six of us gathered into a type of huddle to decide our course of action. Tamaki confidently pointed to one of the other pools to our right and said how it looked like it would be the quickest way. I personally don't think it made sense since we don't really know which way they went, but I didn't question it.

As we all charged toward the pool Tamaki mentioned, I heard Kyoya call out to us from where he stood a little way away; but he was almost immediately cut off by our screams as we barely managed to skid to a halt before being ripped to shreds by alligators. Great.

We had regrouped in our previous spot, slightly more disheveled than before as Tamaki yet again pointed at one of the nearby pools claiming it would be a quicker way to find the two lost blondes.

But the same thing happened again! And again! And...again-? Okay how many alligators do you need in a water park?! Wasn't this place supposed to be therapeutic and relaxing?!

"Hey Kyoya, what's the deal with all these things running about the park?" I asked between pants after we had all returned to our positions in the circle for the third time. The... _guy previously mentioned*_ looked up in slight surprise as if he hadn't expected me to ask.

"Oh, you mean the alligators? They belong to this water park's tropical animals exhibit; though I guess it could be relatively dangerous to let them run loose like this..." He paused for thought, jotting down this amazing new discovery in his notebook. "I'll have a chat about it with the designers. Thanks a lot, guys! I got some great data today." He added with a smile, pushing his glasses up with a malicious glint as he snapped his notebook shut for the fourth or fifth time today. He must think the noise is satisfying or something. Also, what does he mean by ' _data_ '?! What are we, _guinea pigs_?!

Kyoya then led us to a map of the whole park that probably would have been helpful earlier, even if their were still a lot of undeveloped areas. I pointed them out and asked if he knew of any animals lurking in those parts of the park, but he didn't which slightly surprised me; the knowledgeable Kyoya Otōri who supposedly knows everything - _doesn't_ know everything. What an odd world we live in.

"What's out there could be even more dangerous than alligators..." the twins exclaimed reluctantly, the defeat showing in their expressions.

Tamaki waved off their doubt dismissively, saying that this was now a mission of survival as well as one of rescue. Not long after we set off again, this time slower and more calculated, it started to rain; and the six of us took shelter under a type of straw hut or gazebo.

Tamaki and the twins bickered amongst themselves whilst Kyoya carried on taking down 'data' in his notebook. I decided to go over to Mori-senpai after thinking about what the others had said about him being worried. "Hey, Mori-senpai?" I said, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. "It's gonna be alright. I'm sure they're both safe. They'll probably manage to keep each other out of trouble and if they get hungry, there are a ton bananas around for them to eat." He hummed with a small smile in reply, patting my head in thanks.

The other three then resumed their bickering - which I persisted in trying to tune out of - and Kyoya dialed a number in his phone and waited for whoever wa son the other line to pick up. It took a couple seconds before they did, which he seemed slightly frustrated by. How he even got signal in here, I'll never know. "Hello, it's me."*** He said, turning away from us and putting his other hand (holding the notebook) on his hip.

I ignored the Adele reference that paraded into ny mind and cautiously followed Mori who had suddenly begun to leave the gazebo and march into the artificial forest; the opposite direction in which Kyoya had said they should go.

* * *

 _The town's falling down all around me,_

 _Yeilds to a breeze I felt before_

* * *

 **BLESS YOUR KIND SOULS, ALL YOUR REVIEWS MADE MY DAYYYYY**

 **I'm glad ya'll are enjoying my stories and I'm sorry this update took so long ;-; I was gonna do a Halloween chapter but the idea I had would've had spoilers so I deluded myself into thinking that I'd be able to come up with a plot and write it up all last minute on the day :))) so instead I wrote some more for the next part of the side story 'the day it all went wrong' since a lot of you guys liked the first part ;) I also wrote more for a non-plot chapter that I've been working on in the notes app of my phone so there's that.**

* * *

*Do you see my alliteration skills fam.

**In this case, the phrase in italic can be translated to "crazy, sadistic douchebag" or something similar.

***I WAS WONDERING IF AFTER ALL THESE YEARS YOU'D LIKE TO MEET


	20. (19) JPSOS (Important)

**I know it's disgracefully late but Merry Christmas and happy new year! It was also my birthday on the 31st of January, so I'm officially 14 now! This chapter is a kind of late celebration. I'm very late, lately;;**

* * *

 **Chapter** **19:** **Bangtan Boys**

 _Third Person POV_

Shortly after Mori and Haruhi left the twins, Tamaki and Kyoya at the gazebo, they were swiftly surrounded (and subtly assaulted) by Kyoya's search and rescue force. However, the Haninozuka siblings miraculously appeared! Honey seemingly took down all the soldiers with ease (while Marcelline stood awkwardly with the other two on the sidelines) just before the four remaining club members eventually arrived. As Honey bounded off to a tearful reunion with Mori, Tamaki tried to dramatically embrace the girls before being shoved aside almost instantly by the twins who hugged them and patted their heads in a way that would have been considered motherly if not for the fact that they each proposed to one of them with outstretched hands after realising that they were being watched by the previously discarded (and not-so-subtly sulking) club King.

Haruhi laughed good-heartedly and pushed Hikaru's hand away before dodging his attempts to tickle her; whereas Marcie curtsied deeply and took Kaoru's hand before the two of them leapt around dramatically with clichè sound effects they made themselves between giggles.

As the group trotted out of the resort with the company of the setting sun, Hikaru decided to stop harassing Haruhi to suggest that they went to a beach tomorrow as another 'club activity'. Tamaki sighed haughtily with a hand on his hip. "You idiots," He said, "Haruhi isn't interested in anything like that." He was shaking his head in disappointment despite anyone being able to see how hard he was trying to hide his own enthusiasm of the idea.

Marcelline and Kaoru were still messing around childishly, but her pace had slowed noticeably as she earwigged on her club mates' conversation. "Actually," Haruhi began, cutting Tamaki off with a subtle glare, "I might like to go to the beach." She carried on, absentmindedly as Marcie's prancing came to an abrupt halt as she sent various panicked glances in the brunette's direction, silently hoping to catch her attention. "I may not like this silly water park, but I'd like to see the ocean again. It's been while..."

Haruhi trailed off, but Kaoru barely noticed - too busy looking at the changes in Marcie's face and the way her eyebrows furrowed slowly. She was looking at Haruhi with something that he thought could be anything from guilt to pleading. Suddenly, Haruhi jolted and her head snapped around to look at Marcie with an apologetic look. The blonde shook her head with a smile in reply. He said nothing, but didn't allow it to slip his mind.

"What'd you think, imouto-chan*?" Honey called to her, swinging his legs from where he sat on Mori's shoulders. He had his same cute, childish smile and voice but Kaoru could tell he'd also picked up on his sister's sudden change in mood.

"I think I've got a photo shoot tomorrow, so I won't be able to." She said apologetically, blatantly ignoring the knowing look he sent her with the same smile she'd sent HAruhi a few seconds prior.

"We can get our Mum to reshedule for you, if you want? It's no big deal, really." Hikaru suggested helpfully, already pulling out his phone. She whizzed over to him in a matter of seconds, gently pushing the device away from his face.

"No, no, no! I-it's a pretty important shoot, and we've already had to reschedule so..."

He nodded slowly in response and put the phone away, but the suspicion didn't leave his eyes.

Afterwards, when the group had parted ways outside the resort, he took her arm and lagged behind Hikaru at a subtle pace - enough for him to talk to her in a lowered voice without his brother hearing, but not enough so that he'd think anything of it. "What's with that face you made earlier?" He had a smile on his face but she could tell by his eyes that he was worried.

"Nothing, I was just daydreaming." Marcie shrugged off his question nonchalantly, but they both knew her hesitation had given her away. Kaoru felt like he was going to burst from the urge to yell BULLSHIT and shake her but he knew that that probably wouldn't go down well for anyone. Especially with Hikaru a couple steps ahead of them. Why had he decided to slow down anyway? Did he not want his brother to know what they were talking about? Was he... _that_ desperate to have a private conversation with her? As the three walked along the private resort path to the parking lot, he felt himself absently wandering to the internal argument which he'd many times with himself more frequently as of the past few days.

It was a couple minutes before he walked right into a-...a hand?

His face made a satisfying ' _SLAP'_ noise against his Hikaru's hand which caused him and Marcie to erupt in to fits of laughter immediately. Kaoru's dazed expression also didn't help their giddiness. "You spaced out again." She said, flicking his forehead goodheartedly with a giggle. He forced himself not to show any hints of his thoughts under their mirthful gazes, and instead decided to jab her in the side (earning him a squeal and a gentle slap).

" **Says you**!" He and Hikaru chorused before both jabbing her in the sides repeatedly, eventually resulted in her beginning to run away and then chasing her back to the car.

When the trio arrived home, the twins shamelessly peered over her shoulder to see who she was excitedly texting. Her thumbs were tapping animatedly across the touchscreen keyboard, and they couldn't help feeling curious to see what she was suddenly so interested in.

* * *

 **~Haru~**

 **H** : Hey, we're having that pasta thing you like for dinner. Dad said to invite you :)

 **M** : Tell him I love him and I'll be over in 5 mins.

 **H** : Aren't you like a 10 minute drive away?

 **M** : Not for this I'm not.

* * *

The brother's exchanged glances. " **You're leaving?** "

"Afraid so, boys. Pasta is pasta."

Kaoru smiled a subtly strained kind of way that she decided not to question; "Ya know the chef can make you whatever it is you're on about, right?" He said, chuckling with a hand scratching the back of his necklace while the other propped him upright on the back of the sofa.

"Yeah, but no one can make it like Haruhi's dad does. Trust me."

Whether it was part of her imagination or not, Marcie believed she saw the younger Hitachiin pout and huff out a sigh through his nose. "Well at least let us drive you there?"

Hikaru scoffed, sliding over the armrest into a comfy-looking position on the sofa next to her, snatching the remote and putting up his feet on the coffee table. "Yeah, you guys go ahead. Meanwhile I have about five episodes of Eastenders* to catch up on." He said, shooing the pair off with a dismissive flick of the wrist.

Kaoru shook his head. "Still can't believe you watch that."

His brother shot him a wounded look as Marcie chuckled and got up. Although, it probably doesn't count since even though his face was pointed in their general direction, his eyes were already glued to the screen as his free hand - the one he _hadn't_ placed over his heart for dramatic effect - pressed buttons on the remote to scroll through the multiple recorded episodes. Most of which were already viewed, but were ' _too precious to delete_ '.

 _Marcie POV_

In the car, Kaoru and I decided to pass the time by playing 'random questions' - a game Haruhi and I had taught him and his brother once during club preparations. It's a game where, believe I think or not, all the players present take turns asking a different player of their choice a random question.

After a moment of tapping his chin in thought, his face lit up and he turned his body towards me; his eyes glinting with excitement.

"Okay, okay, okay. If you could create one law that no one else can overrule, what would it be?"

I smiled to myself in thought, looking around for ideas. "I'd make it illegal to wear matching socks." I declared smugly, wiggling my toes from inside my trainers. He didn't need to know this because his Mum would kill me for not wearing proper brands, but my left sock is neon orange and my right is black with a vibrant pink heel and toes. I don't even know how the orange one came into my possession, but I have it and I'm wearing it and it's comfy and it's _mine_ now.

He gasped dramatically before narrowing his eyes, a hand on his heart as if he'd been wounded. "You _monster_." He hissed, causing me to cackle maniacally. Then I smirked devilishly to myself, thinking that this was the perfect time to ask something that had been on my mind ever since I'd 'accidentally' caught him singing to himself while studying one night. I had recognised the song immediately, but instead of letting him know that I was also a fan of that group,

"Alright, my turn." I said, crack in my knuckles with a stretch.

He narrowed his eyes and examined my expression suspiciously. "I don't like the sound of this."

Surpressing a chuckle, a I waved a dismissive hand at him as if to say it was no big deal, but I knew he wasn't buying it and decided to get it over with and put him out of his misery. "Who's your favourite BTS member***?"

He choked on his own spit and jolted in surprise, hitting his head on the roof of the car as I erupted into a fit of laughter, wheezes and knee slaps.

"What did-...h-how did you..?" He said between coughs, and I did my best to suppress my laughter as I jabbed him in the ribs.

"Hey, you need to answer my question before it's your turn! C'mon, who's your favourite?" I insisted, admittedly enjoying the embarrassed look on his face. He blushed, sighed and fidgeted before finally giving up.

"...Rap Monster." He mumbled, causing my grin to widen in triumph.

"Not bad," I said, "mine is Suga, though." He eyed me suspiciously, clearly still not completely sure if I was serious or if I was just setting him up for a sass-session. As tempting as that was, it was rare for me to get to talk to anyone about the band at all, so I reluctantly decided against it.

"You know them, then?" He asked, his face still red but he seemed a bit less jumpy. I nodded slowly in response.

"Is it really _that_ surprising for me to have good taste in music?"

He raised a brow at me, some of his usual childishness returning with a smirk. "Coming from Mrs 'Despacito wasn't overplayed'? Yes. It really is."

I raised a brow of my own in skepticism; "It really is overplayed or it really is surprising?" I interrogated, my arms folded as I feigned offense.

He scoffed, not even hesitating before he answered. "Both."

Once I was done tickling him into an apology, we continued chatting. By the way - in case you're wondering, he's most ticklish on the back of his neck; though I will not be revealing who it was that gave me this information.

*Cough, **HiKaRu** , cough*

Speaking of Hikaru, I regained my previous evil smirk as another question for our game sprung to mind. "Does Hikaru like them too~?"

The you get twin's embarrassment returned as quickly as it had gone, and he fidgeted again in his seat before shaking his head avoiding eye contact with me by looking out the window - which forced me to suppress a chuckle or two - and answering me with another _barely_ audible mumble. "He doesn't even know I like them. I haven't told anyone."

Never in a million years would I ever let him know, but a small squeal of pride bubbles up within me, making me feel giddy. Not only did he look extremely cute right now, but he'd also told me (against his will, but whatever) something that no one else - not even his own twin brother - knew. I couldn't explain why, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to just yet, but I felt almost nauseous with happiness at having a shared secret between us that no one else was in on.

And whether it was my imagination or not, the way he chatted animatedly about it (clearly overjoyed at finally having someone else to discuss A.R.M.Y business with) made me think that he was equally as excited as I was; If not more so.

In that moment, I have no shame in admitting that I felt pretty special.

Our private fangirl session was over all too soon as the driver pulled up outside Haruhi's house, and Kaoru insisted on carrying my over-night bag to the door for me. We both still proudly wore our sheepish grins, and he waved cheerfully as he walked back to the car.

"See you at school, Marcie!" He called through the window as the car pulled away. I nodded, watching him go for maybe a moment or two longer than necessary before knocking on the door.

* * *

 _And now I'm sure,_

 _It's blowing at my back and guiding me._

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! However, it will be the last one for a while. I think I've mentioned this in previous author's notes already, but the more this story progresses, the more I'm becoming unhappy with how the first few chapters turned out compared to how the recent ones have. I'd _like_ to believe the more recent ones are better, but of course it's not for me to decide. Anyways, this fact was really nagging me - especially while writing this chapter - so I planned out what changes I'd make and where. But there were so many things I wants to change that I ended up deciding to rewrite it. **

**I wasn't going to upload this chapter, but I'm pretty proud of some ignorant The moments and I realised that not being able to use them in the rewrite was a big possibility so I did it anyway. You're in the midst of a rebel, everyone B)**

 **The first chaoter of the rewrite will be uploaded here's as we'll as in a story of it's own (which I've decided to call Eyes Of Ice) Just son that you can decide whether or not you want to keep following or not. I really hope you guys support my decision and feel free to give me somebody feedback in the reviews! I'll look forward to reading them, plus (hopefully) seeing you all in the next and final update :)**

* * *

*Imouto chan basically means little sister (I think).

**I don't watch Eastenders. Nor do I plan to. Looks pretty shit, not gonna lie. I just wanted to include some kind of series that Bukaru could be into that wouldn't really be expected. I was gonna do Downton Abbey (another show I don't watch but have heard of, and I think I watched random sections of random episodes with my mum?) but I figured that wouldn't be as unpredictable since it's a show about rich people and the twins are, well...loaded.

***For anyone who doesn't know, BTS (AKA Bangtan Boys) is a K-Pop group with seven members. I still don't know many of their songs and can only name like three members but Suga is my favourite aight. I'm also not 100% if I'm spelling it right but their fandom/fans are referred to as A.R.M.Y.

****When checking this chapter for spelling errors, I noticed that I'd gotten my words jumbled up with this particular sentence. I'd said "Haruhi was leaning against the counter with her arms narrowed and eyes crossed", I just thought it was funny.


	21. Eyes of Ice

**If you skipped the bottom author's note last chapter, you're gonna wanna go back and read it other wise this chapter will really confuse you. Just a heads up cuz I know a lot of people skip them;;**

 **The next chapters (and this one) will be uploaded in a separate story that I've decided to call 'Eyes of Ice', so if you want to keep reading then feel free to go to my profile and look for it :)**

* * *

 **Bold** \- An author's note from yours truly ;)

 _Italics_ \- Character POV's, emphasis on a word, letters, song lyrics, messages, etc.

Underline \- To make important info stand out or just to make the lay out a lil' bit prettier~(?)

* * *

 **Chapter 1 : Reunion**

 _You would not believe your eyes_

 _If ten million Fireflies_

 _Lit up the world when I fell asleep_

 _Marcelline POV_

I stood awkwardly at the door of the Hitachiin residence, my hands clasped tightly together behind me in an attempt to seem calm and sophisticated. And to hide how sweaty they were, because ew. I sighed. I'd read somewhere that sighing is a good way to pause, gather your thoughts and (literally) take a breather; it's supposed to be a way of helping the mind and body relax.

Needless to say, sighing had become a habit of mine when something was on my mind. It's one of the reasons why my childhood friend, Haruhi, knows when I'm lying; other than the fact that I'm a terrible liar in general. In another attempt to seem sophisticated, I was wearing clothes that I hoped were a classy-casual kind of style. I'd left my hair down, the ends - which curled slightly, against my will - resting on the small of my back. I wore a plain, grey - and slightly oversized - jumper which nearly covered the pleated black skirt I wore underneath. The collar of my white blouse stuck out, working nicely with the slightly transparent white thigh-high socks and black trainers with white laces*.

Before I was ready, - though I doubt I ever would've been - the door swung open and I was met by a cheerful woman with dark red hair tied in a bun who greeted me with a warm, welcoming smile. "Haninozuka-san?" She asked, and I nodded in confirmation, adding a smile of my own which caused her's to widen. She opened the door wider, enough for me - along with my drivers who were carrying my bags and suitcases - to walk in. "We've been expecting you," the woman said, and I assumed she was a maid as she beckoned over another woman in an identical dress and apron to her own. "Yuzuha-sama is in her office, she asked me to take you straight to her when you arrived. Is that alright?"

"Of course, if it's no trouble." I replied, even though I knew there was no point in adding the last part other than to be polite. It didn't matter if it was trouble or not, since doing troublesome things was part of her job. The other woman she'd called over gestured for my driver to follower her in the other direction down the hall to where I assumed my room must have been.

The red haired woman made small talk as we walked. She told me her name was Manami Hitoshi, but when I addressed her as Hitoshi-san she waved a dismissive hand at me and said I was free to call her Mana-san instead. "It's what Yuzuha-sama and her sons call me, so it's what I'm used to." She explained, and I told her she could call me whatever she was comfortable with in return since I knew 'Haninozuka-san' was a bit of a mouthful. I managed to get her to settle on calling me 'Marcie' instead of the full 'Marcelline', but she insisted on still using the 'sama' honorific like she did with the Hitachiin's. We reached the door to Yuzuha's office and Mana-san sent me a reassuring nod as she knocked on the door, again opening wide enough for me to step in after hearing a reply from inside.

She closed the door behind me, and I walked confidently to where a tall, slender woman was leaning against a posh-looking desk to the right of the room. I presumed the woman to be Yuzuha Hitachiin, because as well as being the only other person in the room, she was indeed dressed glamorously enough to be the owner of a house that was so...well, glamorous. She wore a tight black skirt that came down to just above her knee, and a matching, slim-fitted black blazer which was undone, exposing her white blouse underneath. On her feet were black stilettos which she somehow managed to pull off as looking graceful and sophisticated. Her hair was a short, pale ginger that spiked off in random directions but again, it still only added to her classy aura; as did the thin silver earrings with teardrop-diamonds that dangled and swung at the slightest movement. Her eyes and smile were kind but intimidating, which gave the impression that she was not to be crossed; like she was the boss at an elaborate and successful company. Which she was.

Aside from the small area with a work desk, a coffee table and some chairs, the rest of the room was occupied by mannequins. Each with its own unique design and tangle of tape measures and post-it notes with measurements. Mirrors of various sizes, book cases full of notebooks and draws and cupboards full of a variety of fabrics and ribbons took up all available space on the walls that hadn't already been taken up by pin-boards overflowing with hand-drawn designs. Not to mention the various mugs of half full cups of tea scattered around, some with a tea bag still dangling over the side.

She greeted me with a wide yet understanding smile, like she was excitedly to see me but didn't want want to smother me. "You must be Layla's daughter!" She guessed, holding a hand out for me to shake.

"Yes," I nodded in reply as I took it, "I really can't thank you enough for letting me stay here, Mrs Hitachiin." Something like amusement flickered in her eyes as she told me the same thing Mana-san had earlier.

"Please dear, just call me Yuzuha. And it's really no trouble at all - anything for Layla's little girl!" I noticed a hint of fondness in her tone whenever she said my mothers name. Not that it was surprising, since they'd apparently been best friends when they went to school as well as working together a few times throughout their careers. I recalled meeting her a few times at business parties during my childhood, so it was reassuring knowing she wasn't a complete stranger.

Then, the excitement in the woman's eyes faded and she gripped my hand as our hand-shake drew to an end, placing her other hand over my own and patting it reassuringly. "I couldn't believe it when she fell ill," she said, talking slower now; her voice little more than a whisper, "she'd always been so cheerful and energetic. I can't imagine what it must've been like for you."

I smiled gratefully. 'You have no idea,' I thought.

She studied my face for a moment, her eyes flicking to each of mine before releasing my hand and rummaging in her pocket. She pulled out a small slip of paper with a phone number on it and handed it to me; "That's our driver's number. You can use it to go see them at the hospital whenever you want, he's always on standby." I gripped the paper tightly in my hand and smiled again, more genuinely this time, and stepped forward, daring to pull her into a tight hug.

She stroked my blonde hair calmly and reassuringly as I resisted the urge to nuzzle into the crook of her neck, drowning my nose in the scent of her perfume. "Poor thing," she mumbled, "just a child..." I wasn't sure if she was talking about me at this point or my sister, but I blinked away tears all the same.

Later, she introduced me to her sons, Hikaru and Kaoru. They were identical twins who were witty, polite and resembled their mother immensely; each with the same orange spikey hair and hazel eyes, though their hair was parted like curtains as if there was a rotating fan dangling in the space between them. They were both reasonably tall, and had glints of mischief in their eyes, however they differed in intensity: with the one who had his hair parted to the left appearing slightly kinder in terms of the way he shook my hand and how he smiled compared to how his brother was more hesitant and stiff, still unsure of me. His voice was also less deep and slightly croaky at times as if he had a cold. He introduced himself as Hikaru, but not before sharing a glance with his brother which - unfortunately for them, - gave away their little trick straight away. I knew what it was because it was a trick I used to play with my previously mentioned sister before the accident. I decided to let them get on with it for now; after all, introducing yourself as your identical twin was harmless fun, and if I wanted to make a good impression then it wouldn't go too well to spoil it. They said I could call them by their first names (since 'Hitachiin-san(s)' would get confusing and annoying) so I said it was only fair if they do the same with me.

Yuzuha-san gave the three of us a moment or two to chat and introduce ourselves before checking the shining sliver watch on her wrist and ushering me back toward the door. "I'll call one of the maids to come escort you to your room and help you unpack, just wait here in the hall and she should come in a couple seconds. I've just got to talk to the boys quickly before going back to work." She said, turning back into the room. I called out before she could close the door, and she turned to look at me again, poking her head through the gap in the doorway she'd left for herself.

"U-um," I began, trying to word my request in a way that I hoped didn't sound rude; "would it be possible to have that maid be Manami-san? I met her earlier at the entrance and, well..." I trailed off, hoping she knew what I was getting at. Mana-san was a familiar face (even if it _had_ only been about half an hour) that seemed friendly, and close enough to my own age for us to hold a comfortable conversation without bothering too much about keeping up the airs and graces.

She nodded knowingly. "Will do. I'll send for Manami-san specifically."

"Thank you." I said, raising my hand in a half-wave to the twins behind her - who returned the gesture perfectly in sync with each other - as she closed the door.

I didn't have to wait long before Mana-san almost seemed to skip down the hall, a wide smile on her face as she greeted me and beckoned for me to follow her back the way she'd led me not long ago. We neared the front door and took a sharp right, chatting all the while about nothing in particular.

My room was much larger than I'd expected. On the opposite wall to the door was a large floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall window, and I noticed that all the furniture was mostly white, save for the black duvet and four pillows on my king size bed which all had grey floral patterns to match the curtains and light-shade. In the near left corner of the room there was a white reclining two-seater sofa made of white leather opposite a large tv sitting proudly on a white cabinet, and nearby was the door to my red-and-white themed bathroom, beside which was the walk-in wardrobe which had to be my second favourite thing about the room as a whole.

It was pretty much a short hallway with about five of the average sized wardrobes crafted into one on each side of the room going floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall. At the end of the hall was a floor-to-ceiling mirror with lightbulbs going up each side.

My favourite part of the room however, was the white desk attached to the large empty bookshelf in the far right corner of the room. In the space that the desk had left between the bookshelf and the window was a large, white framed pin-board which fit comfortably in the provided space. Not to mention the massive chalkboard on the other side of the wardrobe which was nailed into the wall above a white chest of six drawers. Needless to say, I was excited to make the room my own and fill up the two boards with doodles, notes and pictures**.

In what seemed to be no time at all, Mana-san and I had finished putting my things in their places and were now trying to figure out how the DVD player worked for the tv I'd been given. We _may_ have sneakily watched a movie together with our remaining time.

At dinner that night, Yuzuha-san sat opposite her son's and I. "Are you sure you want to go to school, dear? I remember Layla telling me you've mostly been home schooled so far, so if you're not comfortable going then it's no trouble to hire a tutor." She said, delicately cutting the food in front of her.

I shook my head politely as I ate, "I don't mind at all, I actually think a friend of mine goes there so it'd be nice to see her again too."

I'd gone to a public middle school before being homeschooled, so school in general was no stranger to me. However, I was excited at the thought of going to a proper private school; and - of course - the possibility of seeing Haruhi again. We still texted eachother whenever we could, and met up sometimes when we were free to go to the hospital or simply go shopping for groceries or cheap crappy movies to make fun of that night at whichever house we'd decided to sleep at.

"Well, if you say so. Hikaru and Kaoru go to Ouran too, they'll be in the same year as you so let them know if you have any troubles and I'm sure they'll be happy to give you a hand," she turned to the identical red-heads in question with a raised eyebrow, "right boys?"

They nodded vigorously between mouthfuls, barely listening but still managing to make me smile to myself in amusement. Their mother wore a smile of her own before changing the subject. She said that once we were all done here, I'd have to go back to her office so she could take my measurements for the school's uniform.

I failed to hide my grimace, and she chuckled goodheartedly. "Not a fan of it?"

I stalled by taking a long sip of the drink beside me. "Well...not that I have anything against it, but it just looks a bit...unappealing?" I explained in a way I hoped was polite, but ended up being more of a question than anything else. The pale yellow colour was nice, but I _despised_ the design with a fiery passion. The long sleeves and torso were ridiculously tight, and yet the skirt and shoulders were ridiculously poofy.

"No worries, I completely agree. That's why we've started a small partnership with the ownership of the school to design an alternative uniform that's not so likely to make the poor things look like suffocating ducks." She said, her face completely indifferent and smiley.

I choked on my drink, barely managing not to spit it out which caused the twins to do the same. Yuzuha looked proudly at the three teens in front of her who were struggling between laughing, drinking and breathing. Soon enough, she joined in too.

The next morning, I double checked my appearance in the vertical mirror hanging by the door in my room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important. Again, I'd decided to leave my hair down so that I had easier access to the one wavy strand of hair that was slightly shorter than the rest and framed my face nicely. Having easier access to it was necessary because I had a habit of tugging it when I was nervous or thinking.

My uniform was pretty much identical to the boys, except the blazer was better fitted and I had a black pleated skirt instead of the trousers as well as a more feminine version of their shoes. I'll admit, it didn't look half bad. It looked all bad - I'm kidding, I looked great. Moving on...

I'd taken longer than intended to get ready, so the twins had left without me; though I wasn't sure if it was because they didn't want any to be late or were just sparing ourselves what probably would have been an awkward car ride.

I had expected Ouran Academy to be a large school, obviously, since it was specifically built for rich kids; but calling _this_ a 'large school' would've definitely been an understatement. This was a massive school. I wouldn't be surprised if it's hall's alone could comfortably fit the entire population of Canada.

Leading up to the two sets of glass double doors was a gravel pathway stringing off into various different directions along the way. I could see that one such path led off to an elegant-looking garden with multiple tables and chairs, and another led off to what could've only been a maze of rose bushes. There were also dozens of sakura trees lining the path and dotting the free space left at the front of the school. Because of that, millions of petals drifted calmly along in the late-spring air. The school itself was painted a pale shade of pink which was almost therapeutic, and had a large clock tower in the main building. Very pink. Much wow.

I hoped that the halls would be empty so that I could avoid the stares from curious students wondering who was this unfamiliar face strolling into their school with a different uniform to their own?! However, having to locate my class and then walk in halfway through the lesson would probably be even worse, since there'd be no where to run and there was also a slim chance I'd be forced to introduce myself. However I failed to locate my class before it ended, and somehow managed to walk into three other random classes during my search. At one point, I think I even stumbled into the complete wrong _building_ since one of the classes was full of second years.

I sighed in exasperation as the bell chimed and students began filling the halls. So not only had my second worry come true of walking into class halfway through and embarrassing myself, but now the second had also become reality. I suppressed another sigh, causing my eye brows to twitch and my eyes to glare daggers at the useless time-table in my hands. I was about to cast the Witches' curse on it (from Macbeth?) when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

When I turned around, I was met with a pair of deep violet eyes and blonde hair. They belonged to a relatively tall second year i recognised from the class I'd just wandered into a few moments prior. Behind him was another boy with black hair and calculating grey eyes behind a paint of thin, silver-rimmed glasses of a horizontal, oval shape.

The blonde boy spoke in a flamboyant, dramatic voice which I noticed had the faintest hint of a French accent. "Greetings, princess." He said with a wink that caused me to shiver as he whipped out a white rose (seemingly from no where) that appeared to have been professionally de-thorned. "My name is Tamaki Suoh and this is my friend Kyoya Ootori, it's a pleasure to meet you." He passed me the rose and delicately kissed the back of my hand as I took it from him. I shivered again.

"I'm Marcelline Haninozuka," the eyebrows of Ootori-senpai behind him raised noticeably, "and it's nice to meet you too..." I managed to say in a way I could only hope was polite. I know there are some people that go crazy for handsome, touchy-feely strangers with accents (the small crowd of squealing female students starting to gather nearby would probably be a good example of this) but for me personally...not so much. Nothing against Suoh-senpai himself, (I mean, whatever floats your boat, ya know?) but him and husband friend weren't exactly my idea of 'dreamboats', as one of the girls kindly provided.

Deciding that I didn't want to spend the whole of second period wandering the halls again, I decided to ask for directions. "Is it alright if I ask the two of you for a favour before you head to class?" I asked, making Suoh-senpai's eyes suddenly light up as his smile expanded by at least twenty.

"Why, of course!" He exclaimed, his mood taking a complete 180 degree turn. "It's the duty of a Host such as myself to make all women happy!" He declared, bowing down slightly and producing another white rose. How does he keep summoning all these roses? Part of me thought the host thing he'd mentioned was just cover for him actually being a magician of some kind. The other part of me suspected he was actually Satan summoning demon roses that would devour my soul quicker the more he gave them to me.

I hoped my expression didn't give away my hypothesis, and I flicked my eyes over to Ootori-senpai as if to say ' _seriously?_ '. He nodded - yes, seriously - and mouthed ' _humour him_ ' which admittedly made me want to chuckle a bit. "Do you know where this classroom is?" I asked, showing them both the room number on my time-table.

Ootori-senpai nodded again, stepping forward. "Yes, some friends of ours are in that one." He explained, whipping out a notebook and tearing out a sheet of paper near the back of it which had what I could've only assumed to be a map of the school drawn on it; complete with hand drawn labels on each individual room and an accurate note with an arrow saying ' _you are here_ '.

I was slightly disturbed, but took the map regardless. "Thanks, but how did you kn-"

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Haninozuka but I'f we don't get moving now we'll be late!" Suoh-senpai piped up suddenly before handing me a small white card:

* * *

 _~ Ouran Academy's Host Club ~_

 _Located in Music Room 3, West building. Come along and find the host of your dreams!_

* * *

I stopped reading after that, deciding to flick my eyes over to Ootori-senpai again to silently ask if this was legit. He nodded like before, except this time he wore a smirk that implied there was something important he wasn't telling me. "I do recommend you stop by some time soon. Who knows, maybe you'll have a fateful encounter or something?" He said, his glasses glinting in the sunlight from the windows even though it was cloudy. I honestly expected him to do one of those evil villain laughs from the movies when he was done, but he only widened his smirk and followed Suoh-senpai down the hall. I tried to shrug off his odd little statement, thinking it was just something from a script meant to try and convince girls to give up their money and free time to be entertained and flattered by a bunch of, for lack of a better term, fuckboys. However despite trying to forget about it, his words stuck with me as I whipped out my phone and took a picture of the map. This way, if my curiosity got the best of me then I could say that I'd only gone there to return it to Ootori-senpai.

I managed to arrive to my next class (english) before the teacher did, and tried my best to slip quietly into the classroom without attracting too much attention. Unfortunately, the students had seen the door opening and quietened down thinking I was the teacher. My uniform probably didn't help with with that assumption.

I listened to their confused mumbles as I speed-walked to an empty seat at the back left corner of the room. I pretended I couldn't hear them and hummed purposefully off-key while looking out the window to my left. Amongst the whispers, I heard a familiar voice call my name from my right, and I slowly turned my head to face them.

The expression of the brown haired, brown eyed boy sitting one chair away from me lit up as he smiled brightly. "No way, it _is_ you!" He exclaimed with a chuckle. I shrank back, having been taken by surprise.

"Um..." I squinted as I observed him, leaning forward to see him better behind the person sitting between us. Then, the realisation hit me like a truck and I nearly fell off my chair in shock. "You... _Haruhi_?!"

He - well, _she_ \- laughed again. "Bingo. What're you doing here, I thought you were being homeschooled?"

"Nevermind that, what happened to you?! Why are you dressed like a b-" I was cut off my hand being clasped around my mouth. I realised it belonged to the person sitting between us, and since I was looking at him properly now, I realised it was one of the twins. The one who'd falsely introduced himself to me as Hikaru? His brother was on the other side of Haruhi, also staring at me in subtle shock.

"What's that? Why's _he_ dressed like a rich kid? Ha ha, we let _him_ have it." He said with a warning look and making sure to raise a brow as he emphasised each male pronoun carefully. Then he nodded as ignoring to say ' _play along_ ' and released me.

"Why...?" I trailed off in confusion. I had multiple questions that I couldn't seem to prioritise or simply couldn't ask for threat of...blowing Haruhi's cover?

1\. Why is my female, non-trans (as far as I know) friend dressed as a boy

2\. Why do you two apparently have something to do with it

3\. Why did you give her a uniform

4\. Why did his hand smell really good-

MOVING ON.

He seemed to assume I was going to ask question three (which was good, since I knew I'd be fucked if he knew about question four) and answered it with a forced toothy grin. "What do you mean _why_? Why _not_? We're extremely nice people after all." As he said this, I noticed a few of the boys infront of us shiver which was very convincing.

Haruhi chimed in, not bothering to hide the confusion on her face. "Wait, how do you know the twins, Marcie?"

I sweatdropped and scratched the back of my neck, "Ah, well I'll tell you later." She nodded in understanding and replied in the same way when I asked her how _she_ knew them. We both huffed in frustration when the teacher walked in, still having so much that we wanted to catch up on and talk about.

While the teacher - who introduced herself to me as Atsuhishi-sensei with a nod - droned on about Shakespeare, I leaned forward again to look at Haruhi past Kaoru. The hair wasn't as much of a shock to me. I knew it was short because I'd cut it for her myself; but now it was more professionally trimmed and styled. Her grandfather's large brown glasses had also been discarded and replaced with contact lenses. Those two facts were most likely a partial reason as to why I'd failed to recognise her upon entering the room. That and the fact that, you know, she was dressed like a bOY.

I was distracted from my internal, one sided conversation by Kaoru who subtly stuck a post-it-note to my desk, out of view of Atsuhishi-sensei thanks to the tall boy sitting in front of me. ' _Like whatcha' see~?_ ' was written on it in red ink, and it clicked in my mind (after I managed to suppress a giggle) that he must have thought I'd been looking at _him_ the whole time. I flicked my eyes up to see him vigorously raising and lowering husband eyebrows while adorning a feigned suggestive pout. His wrist, propped up on the desk by his elbow, was supporting his cheek but quickly covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing as I nearly fell off my chair (again) from trying not to burst into a wheezing mess.

"Everything okay back there, Haninozuka-san?" Sensei called. I nodded slowly, not trusting myself to speak but sobering up instantly as I saw the shocked faces of the twins when I turned back around. Haruhi looked just as confused as I did, and I took that moment to decide that the three of them had a _lot_ of explaining to do. Especially when Kaoru gave me another post-it-note. ' _Come with us when this lesson ends, it's important_ '.

' _I didn't know it was possible to be confused, curious and skeptical at the same time_ ' I replied, and he chuckled before mumbling "Seriously though." and I nodded to show I understood. "Yeah, I'll come with you."

After that, the class seemed to drag on mercilessly, almost as if it was mocking me for my excitement. When the class finally ended, it was break. The twins walked ahead of Haruhi and I while she explained questions one and two from my list earlier (number four will forever be unanswered and we shall never speak of it again).

While looking for a quiet place to study on her first day, she had walked into what she had _thought_ was an abandoned music room but really turned out to be the host club's club room. The club was led by the two second years I'd met earlier, funnily enough, with Suoh-senpai being the President and Ootori-senpai as Vice President. During the process of trying to escape, Haruhi had accidentally broken an expensive vase that was going to be auctioned for eiGHT. MILLION. YEN. In my opinion, that case was just _asking_ to be broken; I mean who leaves something so expensive just _lying_ about with no protective case or anything?! Besides, it's a _vase_. You literally just fill it with water and put flowers in it, who's gonna buy it for eight million? Unless yo' mama's ashes are in that thing, it should not be so ridiculously over-priced. Anyways, I'm getting off topic. Since she was a 'commoner' who'd only gotten into the school thanks to a ascholarship, the club knew she wouldn't be able to pay them back in money, so instead decided that she'd be their errand boy. That's right, errand _boy_. She hadn't been able to afford the girls uniform, and instead wore her own clothes which (in addition to her short hair, glasses and pancake chest) made the members of the club think she was a boy. Then later on they changed their minds for some reason, deciding to give her the (boys) uniform and making her into a host. Their logic was that if she could get 100 guests to request her, then they'd let her off the debt.

She was a natural at it, but some jealous fam girl started bullying her and claiming that she tried to 'assault' her. The club's solution was to pour water on both of them and ban the others gorl from the club. With Haruhi's uniform drenched, they provided her with a female uniform since it was all they had - only to discover she was a...well, a _she_. But since she hadn't no other way of paying them back for the vase, she and the other members had decided to keep her real gender a secret so she could keep hosting. Also, for some crude reason, her quota had been raised to 1000 since it wasn't apparently her fault they'd lost a customer.

All that went down in just two days. I sighed as my mind struggled to comprehend it all, barely understanding. I patted her shoulder in reassurance. "So that's how you know those two, then." I said, sending half-hearted glares at the back of the twins' heads. She nodded with a sigh of her own. I could tell how stressed the situation had made her just by how she recalled it to me. She was out of breath by the time she'd finished.

"Yeah, what about you?" She asked, looking at me from the corner of her eye as we followed the brothers across a roofed-bridge into another building. They slowed their paces to earwig, apparently having not been told the reason themselves.

I would've lowered my voice, but I decided that they technically _did_ have a right to know since I was living in their house and would be now for god-knows how long.

"I mentioned before that my mother was sick, right? Well a couple weeks ago she took a turn for the worse and had to go to the hospital. We had to dismiss a lot of our staff in order to pay for the medical bills, and after a while she got worried about me being on my own all the time and decided it would be best for me to live somewhere else until she was better. She called up an old school friend who agreed to let me stay with her as long as I needed, provided that I helped out with her work when she needed me to." I explained non-chalantly, recalling the events as I described them and fiddling with the slip of paper Yuzuha-san had given me.

Haruhi's eyebrows were furrowed, and she held my hand as we walked, squeezing it reassuringly. She didn't say anything, and I didn't expect her to. The pair of USB's ha had always been hopeless when it came to reassurance; either not knowing how to react or simply saying the complete wrong thing. I caught sight of the twins exchanging glances of sympathy and pity, but decided not to acknowledge it. They still thought they were sneakily earwigging, after all.

The four of us turned a corner into a seemingly abandoned hallway and approached a pair of double doors with a sign at one side that read ' _Music Room 3_ ', which I recognised from the card I'd received from Suoh. I'd decided to drop the 'senpai' honourific after deciding he didn't deserve it for blackmailing Haruhi. Petty, I know.

When we walked in, there were multiple delivery men and women each carrying boxes that varied in size and quantity but the company's name for all of them was the same. I spotted Kyoya in the centre of the room signing multiple sheets in multiple spots on multiple clip-boards. Again, his glasses glinted from the non-existent sun light when he saw me and he adorned a prideful smirk as he nodded to me in greeting. For what must've been around the third time that day, I shivered.

"What's all this stuff?" Haruhi asked, scrunching up her nose as she cautiously stepped around a pile of boxes that had air-holes and were making animal noises.

Suoh abandoned the delivery woman he'd been chatting up to strut over and wag a finger in her face with a wink. " _That's_ a surprise."

She swatted his hand away distastefully with a blank face as she looked away from him. "And _that's_ creepy." She mocked, causing him to get impaled with a red arrow from the heavens labelled ' _creepy_ ', and he almost seemed to deflate as he shrank down and crawled over to the far corner of the room.

"Uhh...does he always do that?" I pointed to him, fidgeting uncomfortably from being unsure whether I was supposed to call someone.

The twins, Haruhi, Ootori-senpai, two other boys I had yet to be introduced to and even some of the delivery people - including the woman Suoh had been flirting with - all looked over at me with blank faces as a synchronised ' _yes_ ' chorused around the room in a dead-pan tone; I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be reassuring or not, but I suppose it kind of was..

Everyone else went back to what they were doing, but one of the boys I hadn't met let his gaze shamefully linger on me with narrowed eyes in an observing kind of way; like he knew me from somewhere but couldn't remember where. I would've felt uncomfortable hand I not done the exact same thing due to feeling the exact same way.

"You recognise him or something?" The twins inquired, popping up on either side of me to each drape an arm around my shoulder and make me jump. They spoke in a nonchalant, ' _no biggie_ ' tone, but something in their eyes made me think they were more interested than they were letting on and reminded me of the feeling I'd had earlier during my encounter with Suoh and Ootori-senpai - like there was something they weren't telling me or something I was missing.

"I feel like I should, but..." I trailed off, not knowing how to end my sentence. Desperate to know, I looked over at the boy again who had now stopped staring and resumed eating jianyun cake on the other side of the room. He had blonde hair that was slightly spiked in some places, and large brown eyes which reminded me of melting chocolate. He was ridiculously small; as in small enough for me to almost assume he was an escapee from Ouran's nearby middle school. In contrast to the boy who sat beside him, he appeared to be even _smaller_. The tall boy had a blank yet well-formed face with grey eyes and black spikey hair. He would've seemed menacing if not for how he looked at the childish blonde beside him. It was the kind of look that held a sweet kind of brotherly affection-

Brotherly...

Clogs turned rapidly in my head as fog cleared and puzzle pieces clicked into place. I wanted to kick myself. How had I been so stupid? I didn't need to Ben introduced to the smaller boy, as I already knew him. His name was Mitskuni Haninozuka, and he was my brother.

A subtle smile overtook his features as he seemed to catch on to my recognition. He patted the arm of the other boy, catching his attention to pass him his cake. He then got up from his seat, walking to the door and gesturing excitedly for me to follow him.

* * *

 _And they fill the open air_

 _And leave tear drops everywhere,_

 _You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare_

* * *

 **I know I mentioned this in the original but I just wasn't happy with the first few chapters and the guilt of pretty much stealing someone else's idea in chapter 3 never really left me so I wanted to redo it. There were also some things in the plot that I wanted to change (as you can tell), for example, how it took like 11 chapters for Marcie to figure out that Honey was her brother since I know a lot of you were triggered about that. And I decided to change it from Marcie being a model and living with her boss to just being a normal teen living with her mum's friend. I'm aware that I said you shouldn't read the origional; however, there's always a possibility of some Marcie x Kaoru moments in there that I'll have to abandon in this version, so if you want to hunt for those then you can. Anyways, I hope you'll all join me on a rewrite of the ride we've already partially been on!**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes then please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*I know, I know, this description is kind of all over the place, but I had to get it done sooner or later so \\_(ッ)_/

**I'd like to apologise for my apparent inability to do descriptions; be it of a character or a fUCKING ROOM


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